2008 Volume 20 Issue 1 Pages 35-41
The aim of this study is to investigate the therapeutic effects of combining both proton pomp inhibitor (PPI) administration and voice therapy for the treatment of muscle tension dysphonia with laryngopharyngeal reflux disease (LPRD) -related organic findings and to reveal the mediation of voice therapy. We evaluated the effect of tentative voice therapy during the first consultations and the outcomes of both voice therapies and PPI administration in 18 dysphonic cases with both LPRD-related laryngopharyngeal signs and supraglottic contraction. In regard to the effects of the tentative voice therapy, 9 cases (50%) showed an immediate improvement in both the vocal and supraglottic findings when performing the hamming method. 12 patients (67%) ultimately demonstrated a complete improvement in the vocal findings. 14 cases (78%) demonstrated a gradual improvement in supraglottic contraction. The LPRD-related organic findings exhibited an apparent improvement in 12 cases (67%). When investigating any associations among the degrees of improvement in these findings, a significant association (p<0.05) was found between the difference of the vocal findings and that of the supraglottic contraction; however, no such association was observed with the laryngopharyngeal organic findings either before or after the therapies. In conclusion, these data suggests that administration of both PPI and voice therapy against MTD with LPRD-related findings is effective.
