Tracheoesophageal Diversion and Puncture for Preserving Phonation in Intractable Aspiration: A Case Series

Tracheoesophageal diversion (TED) can prevent damage to the respiratory system in patients with swallowing disorders and/or repetitive aspiration pneumonia; however, TED may cause the loss of phonation. Our previous study demonstrated that TED with tracheoesophageal puncture (TEP) prevents aspiration while retaining phonation. In this study, we aimed to further evaluate the feeding status and phonation of patients who underwent TED with TEP to verify the reproducibility of this procedure.

Case series study.

We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 11 patients who underwent TED with TEP for intractable aspiration from February 2017 to August 2019 at Fukuoka Sanno Hospital. We evaluated the preoperative penetration aspiration score (PPAS), daily activities, preoperative and postoperative food intake level scale (FILS) score, nutrition route, maximum phonation time(MPT), and postoperative communication method.

The study population included 10 men and 1 woman (mean age, 66 years; range, 44-81) with a PPAS of 6.8 ± 1.0. The FILS score changed from 2.1 ± 0.5 preoperatively to 7.5 ± 2.0 postoperatively (paired t-test, P < .05), while the MPT changed from 7.9 ± 4.1 to 10.3 ± 4.2 s (paired t-test, P = .9). Preoperatively, a gastric fistula (eight patients [73%]) was the main nutrition route, followed by a gastric tube (two patients [18%]). Postoperatively, the main nutritional route for eight patients (73%) was oral, while the remaining three patients (27%) used the oral route occasionally. All patients maintained laryngeal phonation function, and eight (73%) used only laryngeal phonation for communication.

Patients with intractable aspiration who wish to retain phonatory function should be advised to undergo TED with TEP.

4 Laryngoscope, 131:E1965-E1970, 2021.