CO2 laser in benign vocal fold lesions: an observational study

Abstract

BackgroundTo evaluate the clinical and functional outcome of patients having benign vocal fold lesions who were treated with carbon dioxide laser.MethodsFor this Study a total of 41 Patients who had hoarseness of voice and satisfied the inclusion criteria were included. A detailed medical history and a thorough ENT examination was performed. Voice evaluation was done using (G)rade, (R)oughness, (B)reathiness, (A)sthenia….weakness (S)train (GRBAS), voice handicap index (VHI), and maximum phonation time scores.ResultsAll 41 patients reported hoarseness of voice as their primary complaint, and most of them developed their symptoms gradually. The following causes seem to have contributed to the presence of hoarseness of voice: LPR in 8 patients, smoking in 25 patients, voice abuse in 14 patients, and irritation exposure in 6 patients. The most frequent lesion in 25 (60.97 percent) of the subjects was a vocal polyp. This study showed majority of patients 35 (85.4%) had posterior phonatory gap and six (14.6%) had anterior gap preoperatively. All patients had incomplete glottic closure preoperatively, whereas glottic closure was complete at first follow-up postoperatively. The mean preoperative GRBAS score in study subjects was 10.972 with an SD (standard deviation) of 2.1724 and a median of 10.000. The mean postoperative GRBAS score at six months was 0.268 with an SD of 0.4486, median 0.000, Z score − 5.618, and p value < 0.001 which is statistically significant.ConclusionPrecision, hemostasis, and minimal postoperative edema are benefits of using carbon dioxide laser. This research therefore supports the idea that benign vocal fold lesions might be successfully treated with the super-pulsed microspot carbon dioxide laser, which offers good voice outcomes.