ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study is to describe the objective features of vocal cysts and to assess the ability to differentiate vocal cysts from other vocal cord lesions on the basis of voice and stroboscopic analyses. We hope that present study will contribute toward improving the preoperative diagnosis rate. MATERIALS AND METHOD: The voice analysis was pre-and post-operatively in 12 vocal cyst patients, and the resulting data was compared with those of 12 vocal polyp patients, RESULTS: In pre-operative voice analyses, fundamental frequency, jitter, shimmer, noise to harmonic ratio were significantly decreased. In stroboscopic findings, mucosal waves were absent or diminished 100% in the vocal cyst patients. Acoustic parameters of vocal cyst patients, however, were not significantly different from those of vocal polyp patients. Post- operative voice analyses and all acoustic parameters were improved. Pre-operative diagnosis rate was 75.0% when voice and stroboscopic examinations were performed, but 42.9% when voice and stroboscopic examinations were not performed. CONCLUSION: Vocal cysts show absent ordecreased mucosal waves, but show similar acoustic values to other vocal cord lesions. This study finds that voice analysis and stroboscopic examinations are valuable tools in the diagnosis of vocal cord cysts.