Suffering from laryngeal cancer which led to the removal of this organ, Kedian was able to benefit from a transplant.
- Sometimes called the “voice box,” the larynx is a small structure located above the trachea and in front of the esophagus.
- An American man has regained his voice after a total larynx transplant.
- This is the first time that this type of operation has been performed on a person with cancer.
A cancer patient has undergone a total larynx transplant to restore his voice, a world first.
Surgeons at the Mayo Clinic in Arizona who performed the surgery on Kedian hope the procedure can soon be offered to more people who have lost their voices to cancer.
Transplant: what is the larynx for?
Sometimes nicknamed “voicemail”, The larynx is a small structure located above the trachea and in front of the esophagus. It serves a number of important functions, containing both the vocal cords (which give sound to the human voice) and the epiglottis (which prevents food and liquids from entering the trachea).
In cases of cancer affecting the larynx, it is sometimes necessary to remove the entire diseased organ. “After surgery, these patients may become dependent on a tracheostomy tube, a gastrostomy tube and may lose their ability to communicate verbally,” explain the doctors who operated in a press release.
A laryngeal transplant can avoid these pitfalls, but the operation is delicate to perform and the results are difficult to predict. As a result, only a handful of people in the world have ever benefited from this operation and only in cases of injury.
Laryngeal transplant: a 21-hour operation
In an attempt to beat his cancer, Kedian had already undergone several surgeries that left him speechless and unable to swallow. He also needed a tracheotomy tube to live.
It took ten months of waiting for a larynx of the right size to become available, and then the transplant was performed in 21 hours on February 29, 2024. Cutting-edge microsurgery was then used to reconnect the nerves that help control swallowing and the movement of the vocal cords.
Three weeks after the operation, Kedian was able to say his first word: “Good morning”. Since then, he has relearned to swallow and his speech continues to improve.
“Every day the situation is improving. I’m pushing myself to go faster because I want these tubes removed and I want to get back to a normal life,” did he declare. “I also want to be able to talk and breathe normally for my granddaughter. I want to read her bedtime stories in my own voice,” he also confided.
“I like to talk to people wherever I go, and with all my surgeries, I couldn’t do that anymore. I felt weird and didn’t want to go out anywhere,” he also said.
The report concerning the intervention reported in this article is published in the journal “Mayo Clinic Proceedings”.
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