Assessment of malignant and non-malignant lesions of the vocal cord using videostroboscopy

Abstract

Background: Videostroboscopy has evolved as the most practical and useful technique for clinical evaluation of the viscoelastic properties of the phonatory mucosa. It is most useful in identifying the laryngeal pathologies of the vocal fold cover. Aim: To assess the malignant and non-malignant pathologies of the vocal cord by using videostroboscopy. Materials and Methods: The study was carried out on 105 cases, with various complaints of change in voice and hoarseness, in the Department of ENT, VMKVMC., Salem, between March 2011 and June 2013. The stroboscopic examination was carried out after the history, routine ENT examination, and indirect laryngoscopic examination were conducted. All statistical analyses were conducted using the SPSS version 16. The Chi-square was applied to assess the significance value. The level of significance in each calculation was 0.05. Results: A total of 105 patients, with various pathologies, were included in this study. Their ages ranged between 16 and 80 years, and the mean age was 49.7 years. Sixty-seven (63.8%) cases were male and 38 (36.2%) were female. Hoarseness of voice was found to be the major complaint among the study group, followed by a high-pitched voice and dyspnea. Vocal abuse was found be a major factor for nodule, vocal cyst, and polyps. Smoking and tobacco/gutkha chewing was found to be associated with most of the other malignant vocal cord lesions. Chronic laryngitis, polyp, and congestion had shown a statistically significant association with complete glottis closure. Vocal cord cancer, polyp, and cyst had shown significant association with asymmetry of the vocal cord, whereas, acute and chronic laryngitis, nodule, abductor palsy, and congestion had shown a significant relationship with symmetry of the vocal cord. Conclusion: Videostroboscopy is most useful in identifying and differentiating malignant and non-malignant vocal fold pathologies.