2017 Volume 58 Issue 3 Pages 237-245
Objective: Botulinum toxin (BT) is one of the important treatments administered to patients with adductor spasmodic dysphonia (ADSD); however, the detailed effects of this treatment over time are not well known. The purpose of this study is to evaluate longitudinal subjective vocal changes after BT injections in patients with ADSD.
Methods: Thirteen patients with ADSD were involved in this retrospective observational study (2 men and 11 women, onset age 24.8±7.9 years, range 11-40 years). Subjective vocal symptom scores and complications were recorded after the BT injections. The Ethics Committee of Teikyo University approved this study (approval number 13-256).
Results: Improvement of subjective vocal symptoms appeared within 1.8 (±0.8) days. The highest score was obtained at 2.9 (±2.0) weeks after the BT injections and continued until 6.3 (±2.9) weeks. Side effects appeared in 97.4% of the subjects. Scores decreased after 8.6 (±2.8) weeks, and the next BT injections were required at 10.1 (±3.3) weeks. Minor complications appeared within 2.5 (±1.3) days, and very minor complications lasted for 2.8 (±1.5) weeks. The mean interval of the BT injections was 3.1 (±0.7) months.
Conclusions: We clarified the longitudinal effects of BT treatment. By providing ADSD patients with accurate and detailed explanation of the treatment in advance, they are shown to suffer less anxiety and are less prone to discontinue the BT therapy.
