Lung function and within-breath changes in resistance in patients who have had a laryngectomy

We describe the construction of a simple device which may be used to connect a patient with a tracheostomy to standard lung function testing equipment. We compared the lung function of nine patients after laryngectomy with nine patients matched for similar degrees of airflow obstruction, and found that peak flow rate (as per cent predicted) was significantly lower than predicted FEV1 in the patients with tracheostomy. This suggests that the larynx may normally affect production of peak flow. We then compared the change in resistance over the normal tidal volume in the two groups, finding no significant difference, and obtained similar results from paired studies in two patients before and after laryngectomy. We conclude that, while the laryngeal aperture varies during tidal breathing, it plays no major part in the overall resistance changes which occur during a normal breath.