Assessment of Patient Outcomes After Adjuvant Vocal Fold Steroid Injection for Fibrosis After Microlaryngeal Surgery

Abstract

Microlaryngeal surgery (MLS) is one of the most common procedures in laryngology; however, in cases of postoperative fibrosis, few remedial options are available. To investigate the outcomes of vocal fold steroid injection (VFSI) as an adjuvant treatment for fibrosis after MLS. Case series of 228 consecutive patients who underwent MLS for benign vocal lesions between January 2014 and December 2016 at a tertiary medical center. Adjuvant VFSI was performed in 25 patients (11%) with postoperative fibrosis, defined as severely decreased or absent mucosal wave on videolaryngostroboscopy (VLS) lasting for longer than 1 month postoperatively. Data were analyzed from July 1, 2018 to April 30, 2019. All adjuvant VFSIs were performed in the office under local anesthesia and were repeated monthly if the status of the mucosal wave did not return to normal or mildly decreased on the follow-up VLS. The outcome parameters, namely, the 10-item Voice Handicap Index (VHI-10), smoothed cepstral peak prominence (CPP) of recorded voice samples, and mucosal wave status on VLS, were measured before and after MLS and after adjuvant VFSI. In this case series of 228 patients (72 men and 156 women; mean [SD] age, 42.8 [12.3] years), 25 had a decreased or absent mucosal wave after MLS, indicating postoperative fibrosis. Of these patients, 22 presented with deep-seated lesions that were removed using a microflap approach. After 1 course of adjuvant VFSI in 17 patients and 2 serial monthly injections in 8 patients, VFSI was associated with improved VHI-10 scores (mean, 24.4 points preoperatively, 22.1 points postoperatively, and 12.9 points after VFSI) that were comparable to the scores of the other 203 patients without vocal fold fibrosis after MLS (mean, 24.8 points preoperatively, 11.7 points postoperatively). Adjuvant VFSI was also associated with improved CPP (mean, 4.04 preoperatively, 4.23 postoperatively, and 5.11 after VFSI) that was comparable to the CPP of the other patients without postoperative fibrosis (mean, 4.33 preoperatively and 5.15 postoperatively). Overall, 19 (76%) of 25 patients with vocal fold fibrosis after MLS had normal (n = 11) or mildly decreased (n = 8) mucosal wave after adjuvant VFSI. Adjuvant VFSI appeared to be associated with improvements in mucosal wave, voice quality, and subjective perception of dysphonia in patients with fibrosis after MLS, with outcomes comparable to those of the other patients without fibrosis. Adjuvant VFSI may be considered a rescue technique, reducing the rate of fibrosis after MLS from 11% to 3%.