In vitro leakage susceptibility of tracheoesophageal shunt prostheses in the absence and presence of a biofilm

✍ Scribed by Janine J. H. Oosterhof; Henny C. van der Mei; Henk J. Busscher; Rolien H. Free; Hans J. Kaper; Ranny van Weissenbruch; Frans W. J. Albers

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2005
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 192 KB
• Volume: 73B
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1552-4973
• DOI: 10.1002/jbm.b.30167

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Although leakage through a tracheoesophageal shunt prosthesis is the main cause of prosthesis failure in a laryngectomy patient, this has never been the subject of in vitro evaluation. The aim of this study was to compare three commercially available voice prostheses by comparison of their in vitro leakage patterns, in absence or presence of a biofilm. To compare in vitro leakage patterns, a model comprised of an artificial throat equipped with a single prosthesis coupled to a water reservoir was developed. By varying the height of the water reservoir, different pressures on the voice prosthesis can be obtained. Both in absence and presence of a biofilm, the Blom Singer voice prosthesis demonstrated the lowest leakage, followed by Groningen Low Resistance. The Provox®2 showed significantly the most leakage, however, in presence of a biofilm the leakage of the Provox®2 significantly decreased. Regular airflow during biofilm formation significantly increased leakage through the Provox®2. Out of 746 clinical replacements, Provox®2 showed 76% and Groningen Low Resistance 57% replacements due to leakage. The model used in this study showed significant differences in leakage of the three types of voice prostheses used. Leakage occurred more readily through Provox®2 than through Groningen Low Resistance and Blom Singer prostheses, which is in line with clinical observations and enforces the model. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater 73B: 23–28, 2005