Abstract
Surgical techniques for unilateral vocal fold paralysis are mainly categorized into vocal cord injection and laryngeal framework surgery. Laryngeal framework surgery such as type I thyroplasty (Type I) and arytenoid adduction (AA) can be performed under local anesthesia, and allows fine adjustment by intraoperative voice monitoring which is an advantage for voice surgery. Therefore, laryngeal framework surgery is widely used for unilateral vocal fold paralysis. However, there is no consensus on the choice of surgical procedure for unilateral vocal fold paralysis.
We performed laryngeal framework surgery for unilateral vocal fold paralysis from 2010 to 2014. Type I alone was performed in 11 cases (Type I group), and Type I combined with AA in 7 cases (Type I and AA group). Maximum phonation time (MPT), mean flow rate (MFR), and voice handicap index (VHI) were used to evaluate voice before and after surgery.
Both the Type I group and the Type I and AA group showed significant improvement after the procedure in all of MPT, MFR and VHI. When comparing the postoperative score of these two groups, MFR and VHI scores were significantly improved in the Type I and AA group compared with the Type I group.
These results suggest that laryngeal framework surgery of Type I combined with AA achieves more stable effects for unilateral vocal fold paralysis.
