July 31, 2010 Thomas Q. Gallagher, DO, LCDR, MC, USN and John T. Sinacori, MD, FACS
May 31, 2010 Tolga Kandogan, MD
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Abstract
A 44-year-old man presented with squamous cell carcinoma (T1aN0M0) on the left vocal fold and was prepared for a combined laryngofissure cordectomy and type III thyroplasty. The author performed both procedures together-not only to lower the tension on the healthy vocal fold, but also to determine whether the thyroplasty would successfully close the glottic gap created by the cordectomy, resulting in relatively fast improvement in the patient's voice. Satisfactory glottic closure and a satisfactory voice result were achieved rather quickly. The patient was satisfied with his new voice, both in the early and late postoperative periods.
May 31, 2010 Vikas Singh, MD, Seth M. Cohen, MD, MPH, Bernard Rousseau, PhD, J. Pieter Noordzij, MD, C. Gaelyn Garrett, MD, and Robert H. Ossoff, DMD, MD
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Abstract
Owing to their vasodilatory effects, the phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors have become widely used for the treatment of erectile dysfunction. Among the reported adverse events of these agents are epistaxis, variceal bleeding, intracranial hemorrhage, and hemorrhoidal bleeding. We report a case of vocal fold hemorrhage that occurred after vardenafil use in a 31-year-old man who was a professional singer.
April 30, 2010 Hilmi Alper Şenkal, MD and Taner Yilmaz, MD
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Abstract
Unilateral vocal fold paralysis causes glottic incompetence and can result in significant morbidity. To prevent such morbidity, surgeons treat affected patients with vocal fold medialization techniques; type I thyroplasty medialization surgery is widely used for this purpose. In this procedure, a window is opened on the thyroid cartilage to allow for placement of a silicon prosthesis to medialize the vocal fold. A 38-year-old woman presented to our clinic for evaluation of hoarseness and a low-pitched voice, which we diagnosed as being caused by left vocal fold paralysis. Two years earlier, she had undergone a thyroidectomy for the treatment of benign thyroid disease. One year after that, she underwent type I thyroplasty medialization surgery at another center. During that operation, the surgeon had mistakenly created the window on the cricoid cartilage rather than the thyroid cartilage. When he inserted the silicon prosthesis into the cricoid window, the patient developed acute respiratory obstruction. At that point, the prosthesis was removed and the operation was terminated. One year later, she presented to us, and we performed a revision type I thyroplasty. Intraoperatively, we discovered that the original window had been opened on the cricoid cartilage instead of the thyroid cartilage, which was intact. We left the cricoid window untouched, opened a new window on the thyroid cartilage, and completed the type I thyroplasty in the usual fashion. The patient's postoperative recovery was uneventful, and she was doing well at 5 years of follow-up. To the best of our knowledge, no case of a thyroplasty window being opened on a cricoid cartilage has been reported in the literature.
March 31, 2010 Amy L. Rutt, DO and Robert T. Sataloff, MD, DMA, FACS
March 31, 2010 Jeffrey Cheng, MD and Peak Woo, MD, FACS
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Abstract
Phonosurgery is an effective treatment for some vocal fold pathologies, and the Voice Handicap Index (VHI) survey has been shown to be a useful instrument for evaluating treatment effectiveness. We conducted a nonrandomized, prospective study of 21 patients who underwent phonosurgery for the treatment of non-neoplastic vocal fold lesions at our academic tertiary-care referral center. Our goals were to compare pre- and postoperative VHI scores (subjective assessments) and pre- and postoperative results of acoustic and aerodynamic tests (objective assessments). We sought to determine if there was any correlation between the subjective and objective findings. We looked for differences between professional voice users (n = 10) and nonprofessional voice users (n = 11) in both subjective and objective measures. We found statistically significant differences between pre- and postoperative values in three of four VHI parameters, but in only one of 13 objective measures. There was no correlation between preoperative VHI scores and preoperative acoustic and aerodynamic test results. The professional voice users expressed greater postoperative improvement as reflected by lower VHI scores than did the nonprofessional voice users, confirming that the former are more negatively affected by a voice disability.
March 1, 2010 C. Richard Stasney, MD, Margarita Rodriguez, BS, and Jeremy Hathway, MS
March 1, 2010 Gursel Dursun, MD, Selmin Karatayli-Ozgursoy, MD, Ozan Bagis Ozgursoy, MD, Zahide Ciler Tezcaner, MD, Isil Coruh, Audiometrist, and Mehmet Akif Kilic, MD
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Abstract
We conducted a study to examine six macroscopic features of vocal fold polyps and to investigate their influence on quality of voice. We retrospectively reviewed the records of 101 consecutive patients with vocal fold polyps who had undergone microlaryngeal surgery for polyp removal after conservative measures had failed. All patients had undergone videolaryngostroboscopy and perceptual and acoustic voice analyses. The six macroscopic features of these vocal fold polyps were morphologic type, location, position, shape, size, and the presence or absence of a reactive lesion on the contralateral vocal fold. Among our statistically significant findings were that gelatinous polyps tended to be broad-based; polyps located on the superior surface tended to be hemorrhagic; small polyps were mostly located on the middle one-third of the vocal fold, and most of them were broad-based; and all of the polyps that were accompanied by reactive lesions on the contralateral vocal fold were located on the free edge. Moreover, jitter was found to be low in small polyps. Finally, noise-to-harmonics ratios were significantly higher in patients with anterior polyps and in those with pedunculated polyps. We conclude that each of the six macroscopic features of vocal fold polyps affected vocal function to a certain degree. We believe that our study provides additional information to otolaryngologists and speech language pathologists who deal with vocal fold polyps.
January 1, 2010 Edward J. Damrose, MD, FACS
December 1, 2009 Takeshi Kusunoki, MD, Ryohei Fujiwara, MD, Kiyotaka Murata, MD, and Katsuhisa Ikeda, MD
June 30, 2009 Borlingegowda Viswanatha, MS, DLO
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Abstract
A 36-year-old woman presented with a history of change in voice of 1 month's duration and difficulty swallowing and episodes of nasal regurgitation of 6 days' duration. Examination revealed paralysis of the right vocal fold and the right side of the soft palate. On further investigation, she was found to have syringomyelia with syringobulbia and a Chiari type I malformation. She underwent foramen magnum decompression surgery and was followed up for 1 year. Her dysphagia and nasal regurgitation resolved, but no functional improvement was seen in either her vocal fold or palate.
May 31, 2009 Mauro Zernotti, MD, Cristina Jackson-Menaldi, PhD, and Adam D. Rubin, MD
