Assessment of pre and postoperative voice quality in cases of vocal fold polyp

Abstract

<p class="abstract"><strong>Background:</strong> Benign vocal fold lesions comprise of a wide range of conditions resulting from vocal misuse or abuse (vocal nodules, polyps, cysts etc.), acute and chronic inflammatory changes, congenital vocal fold anomalies, vocal fold trauma and benign tumours. It results in significant impairment of vocal communication with major psychosocial impact.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Methods:</strong> The<strong> </strong>prospective<strong> </strong>study was conducted in Department of Otolaryngology, Vivekananda Institute of Medical Sciences, Kolkata from January 2016 to January 2018. All forty patients diagnosed with vocal fold polyp underwent phonomicrosurgery using micro-flap technique followed by voice therapy. Detailed pre-operative and post-operative (3 weeks, 6 weeks, 12 weeks follow up) voice assessment including fibre optic laryngoscopy and laryngovideo-stroboscopic findings were recorded. </p><p class="abstract"><strong>Results:</strong> Voice quality of the 40 patients with vocal fold polyps who underwent cold steel phonomicrosurgery had a statistically significant improvement at each follow up visit (3 weeks, 6 weeks and 12 weeks) as assessed by the subjective variables of voice handicap index score, visual analogue scale score and grade, roughness, breathiness, asthenia, strain score and objective variables of jitter, shimmer, harmonic-to-noise ratio, maximum phonation time and fibreoptic laryngoscopy and videolaryngostroboscopic findings. Fundamental frequency in females had statistically improved results but in males, though there was an improvement, the values were not statistically significant.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Conclusions:</strong> Cold steel microlaryngeal surgery using micro-flap technique offers excellent results in patients with vocal fold polyps. Perceptual, aerodynamic, acoustic, self-analysis and videolaryngostroboscopic parameters together allow multidimensional assessment of voice characteristics.</p>