Mucociliary clearance and mucosal surface characteristics before and after total laryngectomy

Forty heavy smokers, all males aged between 40 and 70 and affected by laryngeal cancer underwent mucociliary clearance evaluation the day before total laryngectomy, 60 days after and, in 6 of them, 5 years later. Specimens of nasal and tracheal mucosa were obtained during laryngectomy and other subsequent operations. Before total laryngectomy, no significant changes in nasal mucociliary clearance were observed in smokers and controls, and the nasal ciliary carpet was fairly well preserved. Bronchial mucociliary clearance was impaired in all patients, owing to the coexistent chronic obstructive bronchitis. 60 days after the operation, nasal mucociliary clearance was significantly improved when compared with the preoperative data and controls, owing to the increase in the endonasal temperature and humidity, and to the reduction of the nasal blood flow and disappearance of the nasal cycle, which follow tracheostomy. Surface morphologic studies show a change in the squamous epithelium of the anterior third of the nasal fossa into a columnar ciliated one. During the first 3 months after the operation, tracheobronchial mucociliary clearance increased of 50% vis-à-vis the preoperative data. During this period a clinically evident bronchial hypersecretion was observed. The reduction in nasal and tracheobronchial mucociliary clearance function which became evident 6 years after the operation, is probably due to secondary chronic infections.