Update of Laryngeal Transplantatıon in 2014

Abstract

The idea of substituting the non-functioning human larynx with another one insipired many researchers and numerous studies associated with this topic have been performed so far. Following operations performed due to malignancies, the survival rates of the patients increased and hence quality of life became gradually more important. This is especially important for laryngectomees who had increased life spans due to of progresses in medical and surgical treatment of laryngeal cancer. As a consequence, the idea of performing a laryngeal transplantation to improve the quality of life is becoming more substantial. In this review, we aimed to recall the history of the laryngeal transplat procedure, overview the indications and ethico-medico-legal issues and discuss the opinions related with the future of the procedure in details.

Keywords

• laryngeal transplantation
• quality of life
• reinnervation
• medico-legal