This past August, the Mayo Clinic had accomplished what was believed to be impossible…
The world’s FIRST successful *total* laryngeal transplant on a patient with active cancer!
Doctors at Mayo Clinic Arizona completed the procedure on Marty, a 60-year old man with a rare form of laryngeal cancer called chondrosarcoma. A team of 6 physicians performed the surgery over 21 hours.
And guess what?
The surgeon who led this first known clinical trial is with us today on the Swallow Your Pride Podcast with his esteemed medical SLP colleague to share the details!!
David Lott, M.D. and Jessica Gregor, M.S., CCC-SLP, BCS-S, dive into the exciting details of this breakthrough procedure. They discuss the challenges Marty faced during his recovery and the innovative post-op rehabilitation techniques used to improve his voice and swallowing.
This is the kind of innovation and collaborative work SLPs dream of – and you get to hear ALL of the details first-hand right here!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | Android | Pandora | iHeartRadio | RSS | More
Thank you to this week’s sponsor, TIMS Medical.
Timestamps:
Overview of Recent Patient Case (00:04:17)
Marty’s Surgical History (00:08:50)
Advocacy for Laryngeal Transplantation (00:10:12)
Post-Surgery Outcomes (00:11:27)
Patient Involvement in Care (00:12:21)
Patient Referral Process (00:12:33)
Clinical Trial Update (00:13:23)
Multidisciplinary Team Approach (00:14:33)
Swallowing Evaluation Process (00:15:40)
Marty’s Pre-Op Evaluation (00:16:01)
Post-Transplant Follow-Up (00:19:01)
Initial Treatment Plan (00:22:01)
Lymphedema Intervention (00:23:00)
Swallowing Rehabilitation (00:24:09)
Swallowing Challenges (00:26:29)
Follow-Up and Adjustments (00:27:19)
Lymphedema Treatment Outcomes (00:29:23)
Swallow Study Results (00:30:27)
Diet Resumption (00:31:36)
Voice Quality Assessment (00:34:17)
Future Goals in Transplantation (00:36:45)
Nerve Reconnection Techniques (00:39:39)
Surgical Nerve Isolation (00:42:17)
Challenges in Nerve Mobilization (00:42:35)
Vocal Cord Examination (00:43:24)
Team Collaboration in Surgery (00:44:14)
Jessica Gregor M.S., CCC-SLP, BCS is a board-certified swallowing specialist in the Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery at Mayo Clinic in Phoenix, Arizona with expertise in diagnostics and intervention of complex swallowing and airway disorders. She holds the academic rank of Instructor in Speech Pathology at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science. Jessica also specializes in prevention, management, and rehabilitation of speech, jaw opening, breathing, and lymphatics in the oncology population, including alaryngeal speech and pulmonary optimization in total laryngectomees. She established the first Multidisciplinary Swallowing Clinic within the Mayo Clinic system with her ENT and GI colleagues for best patient care. She is an international trainer for the rehabilitative platform known as McNeill Dysphagia Therapy Program as well as a clinical mentor for the national Med SLP Ed certification program. Her research interest is the oropharyngeal and esophageal interplay. Jessica earned her Bachelor of Science in Speech & Hearing Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2008 and her Master of Science in Speech-Language Pathology at Rush University in Chicago, IL in 2010.
David G. Lott, M.D., holds the academic rank of Professor of Otolaryngology at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science. He serves as the Chair of the Division of Laryngology within the Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery at the Mayo Clinic in Arizona. His practice includes voice and swallowing restoration, laryngeal cancer, and laryngotracheal reconstruction. Dr. Lott received his M.D. degree at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine and completed a residency in Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery at the Cleveland Clinic Head and Neck Institute. He received further fellowship training in Laryngeal Surgery and Professional Voice at Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Lott is the Associate Director of the Center for Regenerative Medicine, Arizona Campus. In addition, he is the Director of the Head and Neck Regenerative Medicine Lab at Mayo Clinic. The primary goal of the lab is to establish safe and effective clinical translation of regenerative medicine technology. The lab is initiating a FDA-approved human clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy of the tissue-engineered technologies. Additionally, the efforts of this program have established the world’s first UNOS-approved Head and Neck Transplantation Program.
