Displacement of the ventricular fold following cordectomy

Abstract

For early carcinoma of the vocal fold, three different therapeutic methods are mainly employed in daily clinic, radiotherapy, endoscopic laser surgery and cordectomy through laryngofissure. Each therapy has advantage and disadvantage by itself. However, if the indication is precisely and exactly drawn up, each therapy is thought to be an efficient treatment to some exent even today. The cordectomy is the most recommendable because an entire resection of the vocal fold can be performed with saf ty margin. On the other hand, insufficient glottal closure will happen after the cordectomy, resulting in breathy husky voice. Hence, we have newly designed a reconstructive surgery in order to avoid insufficient glottal closure even after cordectomy. A graft is made using the ipsilateral ventricular fold and this graft is displaced to the site of glottis. By a new glottis with the healthy vocal fold and the displaced ventricular fold, complete glottal closure is obtained. A patient can phonates one week later after the surgery. The ventricular fold has the same physical property as the vocal fold. Therefore, it is reasonable to use the ventricular fold to replace the vocal fold from the viewpoint of phonatory mechanism, especially vibratory wave motion.