Clinical Characteristics and Management of Saccular Cysts: A Single Institute Experience

OBJECTIVES: A saccular cyst is defined as a dilated saccule of the larynx, filled with mucus, and is located between the false vocal cords and the thyroid cartilage. Although this uncommon laryngeal condition is benign in nature, it could lead to dyspnea, stridor, and airway obstruction, depending on its size and location. Furthermore, some saccular cysts have been associated with laryngeal carcinoma. This study aimed to characterize this rather uncommon laryngeal condition to aid in determining the proper management of this pathology. METHODS: Medical records were retrospectively reviewed of all patients with saccular cysts diagnosed and treated between 2006 and 2017 at a tertiary otolaryngologic care center. RESULTS: Seven patients with saccular cysts were identified (male:female=2:5; mean age, 34.1 years); two were pediatric patients. Surgical intervention was performed in all patients by laryngo-microsurgery using CO2 laser. There was no recurrence after the initial surgical treatment. CONCLUSION: Saccular cysts can be managed endoscopically using CO2 laser, without requiring an external approach. Therefore, an endoscopic approach should be actively considered for an optimal treatment outcome.

Persistent Dysphonia after Laryngomicrosurgery for Benign Vocal Fold Disease

OBJECTIVES: Laryngomicrosurgery (LMS) is used to manage most vocal fold lesions. However, the functional voice outcome of the LMS might be diverse due to the influence of various factors. We intend to evaluate the incidence and etiologic factors of persistent dysphonia after LMS for benign vocal fold disease (BVFD). METHODS: We performed a retrospective review of 755 patients who underwent LMS for BVFD. We analyzed the clinical characteristics, preoperative and postoperative two onths voice studies. Postsurgical dysphonia was defined as grade 1 or above in GRBAS (grade, roughness, breathiness, asthenia, and strain) scale. Thirty nine patients (5.2%; 25 males and 14 females; average, 42.9 years; range, 21 to 70 years) were diagnosed with postsurgical dysphonia. RESULTS: There was no correlation between the diagnosis, coexistence with laryngopharyngeal reflux disease, habit of smoking, or occupational voice abuse and voice outcome. The patients with a worse preoperative acoustic parameter had aworse voice outcome. Stroboscopic findings showed excessive scarring or bowing in 21 cases, presence of lesion remnant in eight cases, prolonged laryngeal edema in five and no abnormal findings in three. CONCLUSION: Great care should be taken in patients with worse preoperative jitter. With a few exceptions, postoperative dysphonia can be avoided by the use of an ppropriate surgical technique.

Radiological Predictors of Difficult Laryngeal Exposure in Laryngomicrosurgery / 대한이비인후과학회지

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Laryngeal microsurgery (LMS) is a common procedure for diagnosis and treatment of various laryngeal diseases. Sometimes, laryngeal exposure is poor and LMS may be impossible. The aim of this study was to investigate factors related to difficult laryngeal exposure in LMS. SUBJECTS AND METHOD: Three hundred patients who underwent LMS were enrolled in this study. The patients were categorized into 3 subgroups (easy exposure group, moderate exposure group, and difficult exposure group) according to the glottic visualization under suspension laryngoscopy. The 14 parameters on lateral extension neck X-ray in the closed and open mouth view were analyzed to evaluate laryngeal exposure. RESULTS: The study included 168 males and 132 female patients with the mean age of 48.36+/-12.39 (10-79) years. Of 300 patients, 244 patients were classified as the easy exposure group, 41 as the moderate exposure group, and 15 as the difficult exposure group. Patients with difficult laryngeal exposure were significantly higher in males (p<0.001). Among 14 radiologic parameters, thyroid incisor angle in closed mouth view (p=0.003) and sternum-mentum distance in open mouth view (p=0.04) were significantly related with difficult laryngeal exposure on the multivariate analysis. CONCLUSION: Being a male, having a narrow thyroid incisor angle in the closed mouth view and having a short sternum-mentum distance in the open mouth view are useful patient indications that serve to predict difficult laryngeal exposure in LMS.

Transtracheal High-frequency Jet Ventilation using a Two-lumen Central Venous Catheter for Laryngomicrosurgery: A case report / 대한마취과학회지

A 33 year old female patient was scheduled for laser laryngomicrosurgery to remove a polyp arising from the posterior one third of the vocal cord.A double lumen central venous catheter was inserted through the cricothyroid membrane and transtracheal high frequency jet ventilation was performed via the distal lumen.The proximal lumen was connected to a capnography monitor, enabling breath by breath monitoring of PETCO2.The surgery was successfully completed, and the patient was discharged from the post anesthesia care unit (PACU) three hours after surgery without any complication.

The Clinical Characteristics and Voice Analysis of Reinke's Edema / 대한이비인후과학회지

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Reinke's edema is characterized by the swelling of the vocal folds, which is bilateral, and is found superficial to the vocal ligament, Reinke's space. However, the etiology of Reinke's edema is not well understood, and voice characteristics are still controvertial. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical characteristics of Reinke's edema, and to assess the voice qualities in patients with Reinke's edema before and after a laryngomicrosurgery. Furthermore, this study also determined which parameters were most associated with the improvement of postoperative voice quality in Reinke's edema. SUBJECTS AND METHOD: The clinical records from 61 patients with Reinke's edema were reviewed and telephone questionnaires were carried out about smoking, laryngopharyngeal reflux, voice abuse, and allergy. All the patients were classified according to the stroboscopic findings (Yonekawa's classification). The voice analysis of 61 patients with Reinke's edema were performed and compared with 30 normal controls. Also, the voice analysis of 23 patients, who underwent laryngomicrosurgery, was carried out 2 months after surgery. RESULTS: Smoking, voice abuse and laryngopharyngeal reflux may play important roles in developing Reinke's edema. There were 26, 22, and 13 patients identified as Yonekawa types I, II, and III, respectively. The preoperative voice analysis of 61 patients showed decreased FxM (mean fundamental frequency), and increased subglottic pressure. Furthermore, FxSD (fundamental frequency standard deviation), QxM (mean closed quotient), and QxSD (closed quotient standard deviation) were all higher for the patients than the normal group. The postoperative results showed an increase in the FxM and an improvement in the MFR (mean flow rate), Psub (subglottic pressure), shimmer, and HNR (harmonics to noise ratio). The correlation analysis showed that jitter, HNR, QxM, and CFx (% irregularity of frequency) were the parameters, showing the best correlation with improvement in the postoperative voice quality. CONCLUSION: The fundamental frequency was approximated to normal ranges, and stabilizing of vocal fold vibration, and the improvement of vocal efficiency was also found 2 months after layngomicrosurgery. The parameters which represented voice quality by correlation analysis after surgery were jitter, HNR, QxM, and CFx.

Monitoring of PETCO2 during High Frequency Jet Ventilation for Laryngomicrosurgery

In general, PETCO2 is well correlated with PaCO2 during spontaneous and conventional mechanical ventilation in normal lungs. However, it is known that during high frequency jet ventilation, PETCO2 may underestimate PaCO2 because of inadequate washout of the anatomical dead space by a small tidal volume and the relatively slow response time of infrared CO2 analyzers. The validity of PETCO2 as a reflection of PaCO2 was assessed during HFJV in 40 patients undergoing laryngeal microsurgery. HFJV was applied through an injector inserted into the trachea 6 cm below the vocal cord. PETCO2 was obtained from a sampling line placed 2 cm below the injector. Both PETCO2 and PaCO2 were measured simultaneously after decreasing the frequency from 100 beats per minute to 15 beats per minute 10 and 20 minutes after the commencement of HFJV. There was a strong correlation (r = 0.955, P < 0.001) and a good correspondence between the mean PETCO2 and PaCO2 values with an average difference of 1.93 +/- 1.21 mmHg and a limit of agreement from -0.49 to 4.35 mmHg. It is suggested that the PETCO2 obtained following a decrease in the jet frequency during HFJV could closely reflect PaCO2.

A Case of Transient Glossopharyngeal and Hypoglossal Nerve Palsy after Laryngomicrosurgery / 대한이비인후과학회지

Laryngomicrosurgery is a common procedure in the otolaryngological fields. Transient glossopharyngeal and hypoglossal nerve palsy after laryngomicrosurgery are very rare. Recently, we experienced a palsy of glossopharyngeal and hypoglossal nerve which occurred after laryngomicrosurgery. We report this rare case with the review of literature.

The Observation of the Voice Recovery from the Removal of Vocal Cord Polyp by Laryngomicrosurgery / 听力学及言语疾病杂志

Objective To investigate the voice recovery by means of observing the changes of the acoustic parameters in the patients after vocal cord polyp operation by microlaryngoscope.Methods Follow up on the voice changes by means of morphology evaluations and voice analysis applied to 30 cases of patient with vocal cord polyp before the operation and in each week for 4 weeks after the operation.Results 86.67% patients were observed to have improved external appearance of their vocal cords 2 weeks after surgery.There is statistically significant difference in 2-,3-,4-week respectively after the operation compared with the preoperative group(P0.05).Conclusion 2 weeks is needed for the patients with vocal cord polyp to have improved vocal cords and one month needed at least to have the voicing functions recovered.Therefore the resting time should be proposed to patients with vocal cord polyp as a resting guideline.

High Frequency Ventilation for Suspension Laryngomicrosurgery under General Anesthesia

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the use of high frequency percutaneous transtracheal ventilation and high frequency jet insufflation for laryngomicrosurgery performed under general anesthesia. Twenty patients were anesthetized with intermittent intravenous anesthetics and paralyzed with either d-tubercurarine or pancuronium. For the operations for 8 of them (group 1) ventilation was supplied through a 16 G Angiocatch introduced into the trachea through the cricothyroid membrane. For the operations for 12 remaining patients(group 2) ventilation was supplied through a 5 mm endotracheal catheter. A respiratory rate of 100 breaths/minute was used at an FiO2 1.0 using a solenoid valve-actuated ventilator. The inspiratory-expiratory ratio was 1:2. The driving pressure of oxygen was 10-45 psi. In neither group was there any significant change in the value of the pH, of PaCO2, or of PaO2. Cardiovascular parameters such as blood pressure and heart rate were slightly increased. Data obtained from these observations indicate that these techniques and devices when used properly, should provide adequate ventilation and improve the visibility of the operative field.