Medical Oncologist
CION Cancer Clinics
Follow-up after laryngectomy: how often you are seen and what happens at each visit | CION Cancer Clinics
You are seen often at first, then less often, for at least five years. A typical pattern is a visit every one to three months in the first year, spreading out to once a year after the fifth. Each visit is mostly an examination and a scope of the throat, with blood tests for the thyroid and scans only when something is found. This page explains the schedule, what is checked, and what cannot wait. CION Cancer Clinics’ surgical oncologists in Hyderabad can talk this through with you.
MI
Medically reviewed by Dr. Mohammed ImaduddinConsultant Surgical Oncologist · MBBS, MS (General Surgery), MCh (Surgical Oncology) · last reviewed September 2026, next review due September 2027
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On this page
- How often will I be seen after a laryngectomy?
- What does the follow-up look like over time?
- What actually happens in the room?
- Words you will see, in plain language
- Four things families say about follow-up, and what is actually true
- What this page cannot tell you
- Common questions about follow-up after laryngectomy
The short answer
How often will I be seen after a laryngectomy?
Often at first, then less often, for at least five years. A typical pattern is a visit every one to three months in the first year, every two to six months in the second, every four to eight months in the third to fifth years, and once a year after that. Your own schedule may differ, and the team sets it, not the calendar.
Why the visits are so close together at first
Most cancers that come back after a laryngectomy do so in the first two years, and most are found at a visit rather than by the patient. The early visits are also where the stoma, the voice prosthesis and swallowing get adjusted, and where problems with the wound or the thyroid are caught while they are small.
Who sees you
The surgeon, and often the radiation or medical oncologist if you had those treatments too. The speech therapist is a separate visit, usually more frequent in the first year. A dentist, a dietitian and a physiotherapist for the neck and shoulder may be added.
What the schedule depends on
The stage of the cancer removed, whether the margins were clear (no cancer cells at the edge of what was taken out), whether the neck nodes were involved, whether you had radiotherapy, and whether you have stopped tobacco. A higher chance of recurrence, the cancer coming back, means closer visits.
A schedule is not a prognosis. Being seen often means the team is careful, not that they expect trouble.Year by year
What does the follow-up look like over time?
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The first weeks at home
A wound check, removal of any remaining stitches, a look at the stoma size, and the first outpatient session with the speech therapist. If a feeding tube went home with you, this is when the move to eating by mouth is reviewed.
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The first year
The closest visits. Each one includes a look at the neck and stoma, a scope of the throat, and questions about swallowing, voice, weight and pain. If you had radiotherapy, a blood test for the thyroid begins here. Prosthesis changes happen as needed.
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The second year
Visits spread out. The scope continues, and a scan is done if anything is felt or seen, rather than routinely. Speech therapy visits usually reduce to as-needed.
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Years three to five
Fewer visits, still with the scope and the thyroid test. For people who smoked, the team may add a chest picture each year because the lung is where a second cancer is most likely to appear.
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After five years
Usually once a year, for life. The visit is now as much about the stoma, the thyroid, teeth and a second cancer as about the original one.
Not sure whether this applies to you?
Ask an oncologistAt each visit
What actually happens in the room?
Most of it is looking and asking. Tests are added when something is found, not at every visit.
The examination
The doctor feels the neck for lumps, looks at the stoma edge and the skin around it, and checks the scar. Then a thin flexible scope, passed through the nose, looks at the throat above the stoma. It takes a minute and is uncomfortable rather than painful.
The questions
New pain, especially in one ear. Food sticking. Bleeding. Weight going down without trying. A change in the voice or the prosthesis leaking. Tell them about these before they ask.
Bring
- Your weight, written down each month
- Any photo of the stoma on a bad day
Blood tests
Mainly the thyroid, because the gland sits in the neck and is often affected by the operation or by radiotherapy. An underactive thyroid causes tiredness and weight gain that families often mistake for low mood. It is treated with a tablet.
Scans
Not routine at every visit. A CT, MRI or PET-CT is ordered when the examination finds something, when a symptom does not settle, or once as a baseline a few months after treatment ends.
A visit with no scan is not a visit where nothing was checked.On your follow-up notes
Words you will see, in plain language
- Surveillance
- The follow-up itself. Watching for the cancer coming back or a new one starting, at set intervals.
- Recurrence
- The same cancer coming back, at the original site, in the neck nodes or elsewhere.
- Second primary
- A new, separate cancer, most often in the mouth, food pipe or lung. Tobacco is the usual link.
- Nasoendoscopy
- The thin flexible scope through the nose that looks at the throat. Done in the clinic chair, without anaesthetic.
- TSH
- The blood test for the thyroid. A high number usually means the gland is underactive and a tablet is needed.
- NED
- No evidence of disease. Nothing found at this visit. It is a description of today, not a promise about the future.
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Between visits, these cannot wait for the next appointment
A new lump in the neck. Bleeding from the stoma or the mouth that is more than a streak. Food that will not go down at all. Breathing that is harder through the stoma and does not clear with the usual cleaning. Pain in one ear that stays. Call the clinic or the helpline the same day and ask to be seen early. Do not wait for the date on the card.
Commonly believed
Four things families say about follow-up, and what is actually true
"He feels fine, so we can skip this one."
Feeling fine is exactly when most recurrences are found, by the scope, before any symptom. A missed visit in the first two years is the one most likely to matter. If travel is the problem, say so. Visits can often be combined.
"They did not do a scan, so they did not really check."
The examination and the scope find most problems earlier than a scan would. Routine scans in people with no symptoms find more false alarms than cancers. A scan is ordered when something is found, and that is the careful approach.
"After five years we are finished with the hospital."
The chance of the original cancer coming back falls a great deal by then. The stoma, the thyroid and the risk of a second cancer do not go away, which is why a yearly visit continues. It is a short visit, but it matters.
"The tiredness and weight gain mean the cancer is back."
Far more often it is the thyroid, which is easily knocked out by the operation or by radiotherapy and easily treated with a tablet. Ask for the blood test rather than fearing the worst.
Being straight with you
What this page cannot tell you
It cannot tell you your own schedule. The pattern above is typical, and your team will set yours from the stage, the margins, the nodes and the treatments you had. If your card says something different from this page, the card is right.
Travelling from a district
Ask for the surgeon, the speech therapist and any blood test to be booked on the same day. Ask whether the speech therapy review and some of the questions can be done by video between visits. Keep every report in one folder and bring it each time, including the ones from other hospitals.
If you have missed visits
Come back. Nobody will scold you, and a late visit is far better than none. Call the clinic, say how long it has been, and ask for the earliest date. If a symptom has started in the meantime, say that first.
Bring the family member who manages the stoma at home. Half the useful questions come from them.Questions we are asked
Common questions about follow-up after laryngectomy
How long does follow-up go on for?
At least five years of scheduled visits, then usually once a year for life. The early years watch for the original cancer. The later years watch the stoma, the thyroid and the risk of a second cancer, which does not fall away with time in the way the first risk does.
Will I have a scan at every visit?
No. The examination and the scope through the nose are the main checks. Scans are ordered when something is found, when a symptom does not settle, or once as a baseline after treatment ends. Routine scans in people with no symptoms cause more false alarms than they prevent.
Does the scope hurt?
It is uncomfortable rather than painful, and it takes about a minute. A thin flexible tube goes through the nose to look at the throat above the stoma. Some clinics use a numbing spray. Breathing through the stoma continues normally, because the scope does not go near it.
Why do they keep testing my thyroid?
The thyroid gland sits beside the voice box and is often affected by the operation or by radiotherapy to the neck. When it slows down it causes tiredness, weight gain and low mood, sometimes years later. A blood test picks it up and a daily tablet corrects it.
What if I cannot afford to travel every time?
Tell the clinic. Visits can often be combined on one day, some reviews done by video, and blood tests done nearer home with the report sent ahead. Missing the visit altogether is the one option to avoid, especially in the first two years.
Can my speech therapy visits be done by video?
Often, once the first in-person sessions are done and the prosthesis or electrolarynx is set up. Many speech therapists review progress on a video call and only ask you to come in when something needs adjusting by hand. Ask what your centre offers.
Who checks the voice prosthesis, and how often?
The speech therapist or the surgeon, at the follow-up visits and whenever it leaks or the voice fades. A prosthesis is changed when it wears, not on a fixed date. If you cough after drinking or the voice becomes hard to make, ask for an early appointment rather than waiting.
I have stopped tobacco. Do I still need the yearly visits?
Yes. Stopping lowers the risk of a second cancer a great deal, but the years of exposure before the operation still count, and the stoma and thyroid need watching whatever you did. The yearly visit is short. Keep it.
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Sources
- American Cancer Society — Living as a Laryngeal or Hypopharyngeal Cancer Survivor
- Cancer Research UK — Laryngeal cancer
- Macmillan Cancer Support — Laryngeal cancer
- National Cancer Institute — Laryngeal Cancer Treatment (PDQ) - Patient Version
- NHS — Laryngeal (larynx) cancer
This page is general information, not a prescription. Do not change or stop any treatment based on what you read here. If anything is worrying you, contact your own treating team — or call our helpline and we will help you reach the right specialist.
Keep reading
Related pages
Tobacco Cessation After LaryngectomyThe one thing that changes the second-cancer riskTracheoesophageal Puncture and Voice ProsthesisThe device checked and changed at follow-upStoma Stenosis and NarrowingA problem the early visits watch forThe Pathology Report After SurgeryThe report that sets how often you are seenLaryngectomyThe whole cluster, from the operation to recovery
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