The Effect of Vocal Fold Steroid Injection via Cricothyroid Membrane in Patients with Vocal Polyp / 대한이비인후과학회지

Background and Objectives@#Vocal polyps are generally caused by phonotrauma such as vocal overuse, and the first line treatment is known as laryngeal microsurgery. The aim of the study is to evaluate the applicability and effectiveness of percutaneous steroid injection via cricothyroid membrane in patients with vocal polyp and to evaluate its advantages and limitations of the technique.Subjects and Method We included in this study 70 patients with vocal polyp managed by vocal fold steroid injection via the cricothyroid membrane from Jan 2008 to July 2018. We compared their medical records of laryngoscopy, stroboscopy, and multi-dimensional voice program analysis at pre and post treatment. Subjective voice improvement was evaluated using Voice Handicap Index-30 (VHI-30). @*Results@#Of the patients, 54.3 percent showed morphological improvement. In acoustic analysis, the pre-treatment mean values of jitter, shimmer, and NHR were 2.20±2.23, 5.09±3.24, 0.15±0.04, respectively. The post-treatment values were 1.54±1.28, 5.00±4.40, 0.13±0.04, respectively, and only jitter was statistically significant. For subjective symptom improvement, 32 (45.8%) patients showed better score on the post-treatment of VHI-30 compared to pretreatment. Ten patients experienced mild complications such as vocal fold atrophy and scar; however, no critical complications such as internal bleeding or dyspnea were reported. @*Conclusion@#According to our study, steroid injection is a safe and effective procedure for patients with vocal polyp. A vocal fold steroid injection via the cricothyroid membrane can be an alternative treatment option for those who are not able to undergo conventional laryngeal microscopic surgery.

A Case of Intravenous Pyogenic Granuloma Originating in the External Jugular Vein / 대한이비인후과학회지

Intravenous pyogenic granuloma (IVPG), also known as intravenous lobular capillary hemangioma, is an extremely rare form of vascular tumor which derives from the lumen of a vein of the head and neck and upper extremities. The treatment of choice is complete local excision of a small portion of the vein. Since first report in 1979, IVPG has been reported in no more than 60 reports abroad. To our knowledge, IVPG originating in the external jugular vein has never been reported in Korea but has important clinical implication. Accurate preoperative diagnosis of neck mass originating in jugular vein is important to plan operative procedures to avoid vascular injury, excessive bleeding, or incomplete excision. Preoperative radiologic examinations such as ultrasonography, computed tomography are useful as first-line diagnostic tools for differential diagnosis of movable neck mass. With a review of literature, the author reports a case of IVPG arising from the left external jugular vein in a 31-year-old male who complained about a palpable neck mass. This patient was successfully managed by ligation and excision of the vein without any complication and no recurrence was found after 6 months.

A Case of Intravenous Pyogenic Granuloma Originating in the External Jugular Vein / 대한이비인후과학회지

Intravenous pyogenic granuloma (IVPG), also known as intravenous lobular capillary hemangioma, is an extremely rare form of vascular tumor which derives from the lumen of a vein of the head and neck and upper extremities. The treatment of choice is complete local excision of a small portion of the vein. Since first report in 1979, IVPG has been reported in no more than 60 reports abroad. To our knowledge, IVPG originating in the external jugular vein has never been reported in Korea but has important clinical implication. Accurate preoperative diagnosis of neck mass originating in jugular vein is important to plan operative procedures to avoid vascular injury, excessive bleeding, or incomplete excision. Preoperative radiologic examinations such as ultrasonography, computed tomography are useful as first-line diagnostic tools for differential diagnosis of movable neck mass. With a review of literature, the author reports a case of IVPG arising from the left external jugular vein in a 31-year-old male who complained about a palpable neck mass. This patient was successfully managed by ligation and excision of the vein without any complication and no recurrence was found after 6 months.

Differentiation of Adductor-Type Spasmodic Dysphonia from Muscle Tension Dysphonia Using Spectrogram

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Adductor type spasmodic dysphonia (ADSD) is neurogenic disorder and focal laryngeal dystonia, while muscle tension dysphonia (MTD) is caused by functional voice disorder. Both ADSD and MTD may be associated with excessive supraglottic contraction and compensation, resulting in a strained voice quality with spastic voice breaks. The aim of this study was to determine the utility of spectrogram analysis in the differentiation of ADSD from MTD. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From 2015 through 2017, 17 patients of ADSD and 20 of MTD, underwent acoustic recording and phonatory function studies, were enrolled. Jitter (frequency perturbation), Shimmer (amplitude perturbation) were obtained using MDVP (Multi-dimensional Voice Program) and GRBAS scale was used for perceptual evaluation. The two speech therapist evaluated a wide band (11,250 Hz) spectrogram by blind test using 4 scales (0–3 point) for four spectral findings, abrupt voice breaks, irregular wide spaced vertical striations, well defined formants and high frequency spectral noise. RESULTS: Jitter, Shimmer and GRBAS were not found different between two groups with no significant correlation (p>0.05). Abrupt voice breaks and irregular wide spaced vertical striations of ADSD were significantly higher than those of MTD with strong correlation (p < 0.01). High frequency spectral noise of MTD were higher than those of ADSD with strong correlation (p < 0.01). Well defined formants were not found different between two groups. CONCLUSION: The wide band spectrograms provided visual perceptual information can differentiate ADSD from MTD. Spectrogram analysis is a useful diagnostic tool for differentiating ADSD from MTD where perceptual analysis and clinical evaluation alone are insufficient.

A Case of Esophageal Achalasia Misconceived as Laryngopharyngeal Reflux Disease

Laryngopharyngeal reflux disease (LPRD) is common in laryngologic practice. In Korea, up to 1 out of every 5 patients who visit otorhinolaryngology clinic is supposed to have LPRD with symptoms and physical findings. Major symptoms of LPRD include hoarseness, cough, reflux symptom and mild dysphagia. Even though LPRD is common, its diagnosis may be difficult, because its symptoms are nonspecific and the laryngeal findings are not always associated with symptom severity. In Recent study, 66.4% of Patient who has LPRD also associated with esophageal motility disorders. Esophageal achalasia is a disease of unknown etiology characterized by an absence of peristalsis in the body of esophagus and nonrelaxing hypertension of the lower esophageal sphincter. Common cause is loss of ganglion cells in Auerbachs plexus. The classic triad of symptoms in achalasia includes dysphagia, regurgitation and weight loss. LPRD and esophageal achalasia have similar symptoms but have different treatment of choice. The Differentiation diagnosis of theses disease is important and should be established by history, radiologic examination and endoscopic examination. We recently assessed a 59-year-old female patient who complained of an epigastric pain, dysphagia and chronic cough. LPRD was initially diagnosed on Laryngoscopic examination and Reflux Symptom Index, but patient was not relieved of any symptoms after treatment of Proton Pump Inhibitor for 3 months. After high resolution manometry, esophageal achalasia was finally diagnosed. We report this case regarding the diagnosis and treatment with review of literatures because we have to think about esophageal motility disorders as a differential diagnosis in laryngology.