Voice therapy after phonosurgery for unilateral vocal cord paralysis

Abstract

Most cases of unilateral vocal cord paralysis exhibiting severely insufficient glottic closure can be improved by functional surgery of the larynx. However, in cases with an unsatisfactory improvement, voice therapy may be required after surgery. We examined the effects of voice therapy after functional surgery of the larynx in cases of unilateral vocal cord paralysis. Among 12 patients with unilateral vocal cord paralysis who underwent functional surgery of the larynx at our hospital, five required voice therapy after surgery because of muscle tension dysphonia and atrophy of the vocal cord on the healthy side. Following voice therapy, four of these five patients showed improvements in subjective and objective evaluations. Our results indicate that post-surgery voice therapy may be necessary for patients who suffer from muscle tension dysphonia due to the compensatory use of the vocal cord on the healthy side during dysphonia or when the patient suffers from sulcus vocalis.