A voice-box transplant performed in Chengdu is giving new hope to people who have lost their ability to speak after cancer. Here’s how the surgery works, why it matters, and what the future holds for complex head and neck reconstruction.
Losing the ability to speak due to cancer or injury is a life-altering experience, leaving many patients with a profound sense of isolation and frustration. Until recently, there were only a handful of cases worldwide where a full larynx (voice box) had ever been successfully transplanted. That changed in April 2023, when a surgical team at West China Hospital completed Asia’s first total laryngeal transplant on a 65-year-old man who had lost both his voice and his airway after treatment for throat cancer.
The procedure, which took nearly nine hours, involved reconnecting delicate blood vessels and nerves to a donor larynx, trachea, and thyroid. Success meant not only restoring a patient’s ability to breathe normally, but also, after rehabilitation, the ability to speak again. Within days, the patient was breathing through the new larynx, and early signs of vocal recovery soon followed—a clinical outcome that was almost unimaginable just a decade ago.
The significance of this breakthrough goes well beyond one patient. In the months since, the hospital has completed several more of these transplants, refining the surgical protocol and rehabilitation approach each time. These operations are pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in reconstructive surgery and offer a solution for thousands who face permanent voice loss due to disease or trauma. Research is ongoing to improve long-term recovery and minimize the need for life-long immune suppression.
As centers in China and elsewhere refine these complex techniques, the hope is that more people—regardless of their background—will gain access to life-changing reconstructive surgery. For travelers seeking advanced medical options, Chengdu is now home to one of the world’s leading programs in head and neck restoration.