Hyung-tae Kim and Hyun-jin Oh, directors of Yeson Voice Center, presented the long-term results of injection laryngoplasty for sulcus vocalis at the 80th Congress of Korean Society of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery.
The 80th Congress of Korean Society of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery was held at the Sheraton Walker Hill Hotel, Seoul from October 27 to 28, 2006. Document Title: The long-term results of injection laryngoplasty in scarred vocal fold
Objective: Vocal fold scar is a disease very challenging to treat, which causes dysphonia and results from sulcus vocalis or a scar on the mucous membrane. The objective of this research was to analyze the vocal changes and long-term results in patients with scarred vocal folds who had received injection laryngoplasty using hyaluronic acid.
Methods: Post-operative analysis was done in 63 patients with scarred vocal folds to whom injection laryngoplasty was performed and observations and voice evaluation was possible at Yeson Voice Center from November 2003 to February 2006. Hyaluronic acid was used for injection. Post-operative voice evaluation was done monthly, and voice analysis test was performed every 4 months. Subjective voice satisfaction was measured, and significance was tested with ANOVA.
Results: Average age of the patients was 37 (12-63), and the vocal fold diseases included sulcus vocalis (74%), scarred vocal folds (21.2%), and adhesion of vocal fold membrane (4.8%). The operation was performed at an average of 2.05 times (1-5 times). Subjective voice satisfaction of the patients showed great improvement in 15.9% (10 cases), improvement in 60.3% (39 cases), slight improvement in 22.2% (14 cases), and relapse in 1.6% (1 case). Psychoacoustic significance test showed improvement, and voice analysis test showed the biggest improvement due to the improvement of the soft phonation index. Changes due to the operation frequency proved that the increase in frequency brought improvements in subjective satisfaction and the mucosal wave.
Conclustion: In rare vocal fold diseases, repeated injections of hyaluronic acid through transcutaneous injection laryngoplasty are safe and effective for voice improvement.