Risks of total laryngectomy may damage neighboring blood vessels, laryngeal and pharyngeal leakage, celiac leakage and lymphatic leakage.
1. There are risks associated with conventional surgery, such as bleeding and infection.
2. There are many large blood vessels in the neck, and total laryngectomy needs to perform cervical lymph node dissection at the same time as removing the primary lesion, which is very easy to damage the internal jugular vein, internal carotid artery and subclavian artery.
3. Infection may occur after total laryngectomy, and laryngeal leakage and pharyngeal leakage may occur.
4. There are also some special risks, such as lymphatic leakage and celiac leakage. Lymphatic vessels in the neck are mishandled intraoperatively, celiac leakage and lymphatic leakage may occur after surgery, and pressure dressing is needed. If celiac leakage and lymphatic leakage are still present after one week, the wound should be opened to repair the leakage again, and if the site of the fistula is not clear, iodoform gauze may be needed to continue to put pressure on the fistula.
The risks of specific total laryngectomy will be informed to the patient before the operation by the specialist and should be fully understood before the operation.