Martin Birchall is Professor of Laryngology and Consultant Laryngologist at the RNTNE Hospital

 

Voice is the primary mode of human communication, swallowing our means of nutritional support and breathing the most urgent of human needs. The larynx and pharynx sit at the cross-roads of all these functions, and so when they fail, the consequences for life and socialisation are profound.

 

Since 1995, I have attempted to harness the best of biomedical science to support restoration of function to people whose throats have been damaged by accident and disease, including cancer. Working with scientists, fellow surgeons and patients (I am Medical Director, National Association of Laryngectomee Clubs), I have assembled specific teams to address a variety of throat disorders. These include the understanding of laryngeal immunity to help people with inflammatory (laryngitis) and malignant (throat cancer) conditions; repairing paralysed laryngeal nerves; and investigating viral (papillomatosis) and bacterial infections of the throat.

 

With the ultimate goal of achieving complete replacement of the larynx for persons in whom it is destroyed by trauma or cancer, the work of these teams, underpinned by the unparalleled infrastructure and know-how of UCL, is now being brought together into parallel themes of stem-cell/tissue-engineered airway replacements, and laryngeal transplantation.