Etiology and presenting features of vocal cord paralysis: changing trends over the last two decades

Abstract

BackgroundThe study was performed to evaluate the changing trends in etiology and presenting features of vocal cord paralysis (VCP) from March 1998 to March 2020.MethodsPatient’s record collected from hospital database and divided into two groups, from March 1998 to March 2009 and from April 2009 to March 2020, to evaluate the changing trends in etiology and presenting features.ResultsTotal of 711 VCP patients, 80.3% with unilateral (UVCP) and 19.7% with bilateral vocal cord paralysis (BVCP) included. The commonest etiology was non-surgical (57.1%) for UVCP and surgical (55.7%) for BVCP. The commonest surgical etiology was thyroid and parathyroid surgery for both UVCP (16.6%) and BVCP (38.5%). The commonest non-surgical etiology was idiopathic for UVCP (23.1%) and malignancies for BVCP (13.6%). There was increase in surgical etiology for both UVCP (39.3 to 45.3%) and BVCP (51.2 to 57.7%), and decrease in non-surgical etiology for both UVCP (60.7 to 54.6%) and BVCP (48.8 to 42.3%). The change in voice was most common presenting features for both UVCP (69.2%) and BVCP (92.8%). The frequency of the presenting features was comparable, with decrease in the duration of symptom onset over the time period.ConclusionThe most common etiology for UVCP was idiopathic, and for BVCP was thyroid and parathyroid surgery. For both, UVCP and BVCP there was increasing trend for surgical and decreasing trend for non-surgical etiology. The change in voice was the most common presenting complain, with decrease in duration of symptom onset over time period.