RESUMO
BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to analyze voice quality among patients treated by definitive radiotherapy for laryngeal cancer. METHODS: Ten patients with laryngeal cancer who had completed radiotherapy were involved in this pilot study. A standardized protocol was administered assessing: (1) sustained vowel production following maximal inspiration, (2) sustained vowel production for a 7-second duration repeated 5 times, and (3) spontaneous speech for 10 seconds. RESULTS: The acoustic parameters among patients with early-stage cancer were not statistically different from healthy age-corresponding controls, except for shimmer (0.20 vs 0.16 dB, ρ = 0.01) and maximum phonation duration (24.37 vs 30.10 seconds, ρ = 0.04). For patients with locally advanced cancer, differences with controls were observed with shimmer (2.29 vs 0.16 dB, ρ = 0.01), jitter (7.49% vs 1.04%, ρ = 0.01), harmonics-to-noise ratio (2.67 vs 9.22, ρ = 0.01), and maximum phonation duration (14.12 vs 30.10 seconds, ρ = 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Despite the subtle differences in voice quality that existed, radiotherapy as a curative treatment for laryngeal cancer allows maintenance of a functional voice.
