Disfonía por tensión muscular: concepto y criterios diagnósticos / Muscle tension dysphonia: concept and diagnostic criteria

Introducción. La disfonía por tensión muscular fue definida, desde 1983, como un desorden que ocasiona un desbalance en las fuerzas de tensión muscular laríngea sin evidencia de patología estructural o neurológica. Denominado también disfonía por tensión muscular, tipo 1, este desorden aún no tiene estandarizadas las características que en la práctica han sido consideradas parte de su diagnóstico.Objetivo. Revisar la información actual, no mayor a cinco años, sobre disfonía por tensión muscular para unificar criterios y diagnósticos actuales.Metodología. Se realizó una búsqueda sistemática a través de las bases de datos PubMed, Google Scholar y Cochrane. Los términos MESH utilizados fueron: dis-fonía por tensión muscular, disfonía funcional, disfonía hipercinética y fatiga vocal. Criterios de inclusión: artículos publicados en revistas arbitradas, sin importancia del diseño y antigüedad no mayor a cinco años. Criterios de exclusión: artículos cuyo enfoque principal no fuera disfonía por tensión muscular y con idioma diferente al inglés o español.Resultados. Dos estudios refieren mayor patología en mujeres que hombres; cuatro investigaciones reportan presión subglótica aumentada (>90 mmHg); tres trabajos reportaron medidas fonatorias; un trabajo propone video de alta resolución como demostración de hiperfunción vocal; una investigación evaluó onda mucosa por elec-troglotografía; una investigación estudió el uso de resonancia magnética funcional; otro trabajo propuso un estudio piloto de evaluación de flujo sanguíneo de músculos infrahioideos. Otro trabajo hace una revisión del uso de métodos diagnósticos.Conclusiones. Los parámetros de mayor peso fueron pico cepstral y presión sub-glótica. Aún es necesario ampliar el conocimiento con nuevas investigaciones que permitan criterios universales

Introduction. Muscle tension dysphonia has been defined since 1983 as a disorder in which there is an imbalance in laryngeal muscle tension forces, without evidence of structural or neurological pathology; it has also been called type I muscle tension dysphonia. The characteristics that in practice have been considered part of the di-agnosis are not standardized.Objective. To review current information, not older than 5 years, on muscle tension dysphonia, unifying current diagnostic criteria.Methodology. A systematic search was carried out through the Pub Med, Google scholar and Cochrane databases. The MESH terms used were: muscle tension dys-phonia, functional dysphonia, hyperkinetic dysphonia, and vocal fatigue. Inclusion criteria: articles published in peer-reviewed journals, regardless of design and pub-lished no more than 5 years before. Exclusion criteria: articles whose main focus was not muscle tension dysphonia and with a language other than English or Spanish.Results. Two studies report more pathology in women than men; four investiga-tions report increased subglottic pressure (> 90 mmHg); three studies reported pho-natory measures; a work proposes high resolution video as a demonstration of vo-cal hyperfunction; an investigation evaluated mucosal wave by electroglottography; an investigation studied the use of functional magnetic resonance imaging; another work proposed a pilot study of infrahyoid muscle blood flow assessment: another work reviews the use of diagnostic methods.Conclusions. The parameters of greater weight were cepstral peak and subglottic pressure. It is still necessary to expand the knowledge with new research that allows universal criteria

Clinical Application of Botulinum Toxin to Functional Dysphonia

Functional dysphonia (FD) is a disease entity which includes various voice disorders in the absence of structural or neurologic laryngeal pathology. Muscle tension dysphonia (MTD), psychogenic dysphonia are representative FD with completely different pathogenesis. Therefore there is no standard treatment modality for FD, the first step of treatment of FD is differentiating patient's voice symptoms from other organic voice disorders and other functional voice problems. MTD is a functional voice disorder caused by hyperfunction of intrinsic and extrinsic laryngeal musculature. Symptoms include increased vocal effort, roughness, fatigue and odynophonia. First line for MTD is indirect or direct voice therapy. Unfortunately, many patients with MTD improve with voice therapy alone. For these patients, various modalities tried; lidocaine application, surgical excision of the false vocal folds, and botulinum toxin injection, etc. Botulinum toxin injections are widely used in the field of otolaryngology, especially for spasmodic dysphonia. However, its use in FD or MTD has only been described in few case reports. The aim of this lecture is to evaluate the feasibility of botulinum toxin injection for FD, especially MTD.

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.

Differential Diagnosis between Neurogenic and Functional Dysphonia

Voice disorder is classified into three categories, structural, neurogenic and functional dysphonia. Neurogenic dysphonia refers to a disruption in the nerves controlling the larynx. Common examples of this include complete or partial vocal cord paralysis, spasmodic dysphonia. Also it occurs as part of an underlying neurologic condition such as Parkinson's disease, myasthenia gravis, Lou Gehrig's disease or disorder of the central nervous system that causes involuntary movement of the vocal folds during voice production. Functional dysphonia is a voice disorder in the absence of structual or neurogenic laryngeal characteristics. A near consensus exist that Muscle tension dysphonia (MTD) is functional voice disorder wherein hyperfunctional laryngeal muscle activity whereas Spasmodic dysphonia (SD) is neurogenic, action-induced focal laryngeal dystonia including several subtype. Both Adductor type spasmodic dysphonia (AdSD) and MTD may be associated with excessive supraglottic contraction and compensation, resulting in a strained voice quality with spastic voice breaks. It makes these two disorders extremely difficult to differentiate based on clinical interpretation alone. Because treatment for AdSD and MTD are quite different, correct diagnosis is important. Clinician should be aware of the specific vocal characteristics of each disease to improve therapeutic outcome.

Differential Diagnosis of Dysphonia Looks Normal Larynx

Voice is a physical phenomenon, generated by vocal fold and expiratory airflow. Dysphonia should come from abnormal vocal fold and airflow. Occassionally larynx looks normal in show, but it is actually not. There should be undetected structural or functional abnormalities. So when ENT doctors face dysphonia patients who looks normal larynx, should make a diagnosis through close observation. In this review article we present some dysphonia diseases which looks normal larynx. For example vocal fatigue, vocal fold paresis, posterior glottic diastasis, muscle tension dysphonia and psychogenic dysphonia.

Characteristics of Adduct Spasmodic Dysphonia and Muscle Tension Dysphonia Using Spectrogram / 대한이비인후과학회지

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Adduct spasmodic dysphonia (ADSD) is a neurogenic and focal laryngeal dystonia resulting in a strained voice quality with spastic voice breaks. While muscle tension dysphonia (MTD) is caused by functional voice disorders, its symptoms are similar to those of ADSD. Because the approaches of treatment for ADSD and MTD are radically different, accurate evaluations are necessary for precise diagnosis. A spectrogram analysis for differentiating ADSD from MTD provides differentiations on four spectral findings (abrupt voice breaks, irregular wide-spaced vertical striations, well-defined formants and high-frequency spectral noise). The aim of this study was to evaluate if the spectrogram could provide detailed information on the visual characteristics that distinguish ADSD and MTD. SUBJECTS AND METHOD: 11 female patients of ADSD and 13 female patients of MTD who were diagnosed by laryngoscope and stroboscope from 2009 through 2012 were selected for this study. The speech samples of subjects were obtained using Computerized Speech Lab. The two speech therapists evaluated a wide-band (300 Hz) spectrogram by blind test using 4 scales (0-3 point) for four spectral findings. RESULTS: Abrupt voice breaks and irregular wide-spaced vertical striations of ADSD were significantly higher than those of MTD. Well-defined formants and high-frequency spectral noise were not found significantly different between two groups. CONCLUSION: The spectrograms provided visual perceptual information needed to differentiate ADSD from MTD. Voice therapy to reduce hypertension could be considered for patients of ADSD with excessive formants and noise. If spectrogram analysis were used along with other assessments, it would be more useful in distinguishing ADSD from MTD.