The Laryngectomee Guide is available

The 170 pages guide provides practical information assisting laryngectomees and their caregivers in dealing with medical, dental and psychological issues. The guide contains information about the side effects of radiation and chemotherapy; the methods of speaking after laryngectomy; and how to care for the airway, stoma, heat and moisture exchanger filter, and voice prosthesis. In addition it addresses eating and swallowing issues, medical, dental and psychological concerns, respiration and anesthesia, and travelling as a laryngectomee.

A Guide is available as paperback, Kindle Edition, and eBook.
To obtain a free paperback copy file this form and fax it to 414 227 9033. Alternatively it can be mailed to J. Harrison 11390 W. Theo Trecker West Allis WI 53214. It can also be requested by e mailing customersupport.us@atosmedical.com or calling 1-800-217-0025.

To obtain a free e book copy of the Guide in English click this link.
To obtain a free e book of the Guide in Turkish click this link.
To obtain a free copy of the Guide in Russian click this link. 
To obtain a free copy of the Guide in Italian click on this link.

The guide is endorsed by the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and the Society of Otorhinolaryngology and Head-Neck Nurses, Inc. 

Reviews of the Guide (see all reviews):

March 8, 2014

This book is a great resource for patients, families, health care providers, and medical and speech pathology students. It is a comprehensive guide to understanding and managing the issues associated with laryngectomy surgery and radiation treatment. It provides the unique perspective of Dr. Brook, a laryngectomee, physician, and patient advocate. Thank you Dr. Brook for all of your wonderful contributions to the laryngectomee community. As a speech pathologist in the field, I highly recommend this book.

Meryl Kaufman M.Ed., CCC-SLP, BRS-S

The Emory Voice Center, Emory University

Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery

Atlanta, GA

March 10, 2015

Dr. Brook,

Your book has become an excellent resource that we now use in our facility for all our laryngectomy patients.  It now has replaced the previous educational materials we used to provide the patients.  Thank you so much for your rich contribution!

Ginny Chapa, CCC-SLP

Mayo Clinic Florida

Jacksonville Florida

See comments from laryngectomees who got the laryngectomee Guide:

• Yes, it's worth the time to order a copy.
• Yes. When in Beth Israel in NYC having my operation, my team of interns all carried copies of Dr Brook's books with them on rounds.
• Helped us many times !! Three years July 8th and I still use it to refresh .
• I wish I would have had that book right after my surgery instead of 2 years later. I still learned more from the book than I was offered from the surgeon and hospital.
• Yes indeed
• great reference! get it!!
• Yes. Lots of good information. And I got Jim Lauder's Dad's book when I was in the hospital from the speech therapist.
• Yes and yes Many many times!!
• Has helped me very much. In fact, I got the book about two weeks before my surgery.

Input from Tony Branch, laryngectomee since June 2016:

The very best resource I've seen is THE LARYNGECTOMEE GUIDE by Dr. Itzhak Brook M.D. Dr. Brook is not an ENT or an otolaryngologist, but an accomplished pediatrician on the staff at Georgetown Medical Center. However, he himself went through the very same experience that most of us have coped with, His book is written from a patient's perspective. From

first initial diagnosis to methods of speaking after the operation, Dr. Brook covers it all in easily language understandable to the layman. At the same time, he also has that invaluable medical background.

This has been an extremely important resource for me these past few months.

Initial surgical therapy for advanced-stage laryngeal cancer may increase survival.

A single academic center performing a high rate of surgical therapy, including total laryngectomy, to treat advanced-stage laryngeal cancer had a higher 5-year survival rate than national levels in a small study. Dr Blake Joseph LeBlanc, of Louisiana State University (LSU) Health-Shreveport and co-authors evaluated survival rates at their institution for primary surgical treatment of advanced-stage tumor with outcomes in the National Cancer Database (NCDB).

 In an analysis of 165 patients with laryngeal cancer in the LSU Health tumor registry from 1998 to 2007, 48 (29%) had clinically early-stage (I/II) disease and 117 (71%) had advanced-stage (III/IV) disease.

Of the 117 patients with advanced-stage disease, 64 (55%) underwent primary surgical therapy to include total laryngectomy or pharyngolaryngectomy .Data from the NCDB shows the national rate of laryngectomy declined from 60% in the 1980s to 32% in 2007.

Five-year survival for stage IV was at LSU was 56% compared with 32% nationally.

The authors noted "This study suggests that initial surgical therapy for advanced-stage disease may result in increased survival compared with organ preservation".