Ultrasonographic Measurement of Vocal Fold Length and Cricothyroid Distance for Transsexual Pitch Raising Surgery / 听力学及言语疾病杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To assess true vocal fold (TVF) length and cricothyroid distance(CTD) with ultrasonography in male-to-female (MtF)transsexual voice surgery.Methods Five MtF transsexuals were divided into two groups according to their voice change surgery methods.High-frequency ultrasonography was used to measure the length of true vocal folds and cricothyroid distance.Measurements were compared pre-and post-surgery, and correlations with fundamental frequency (F0) were analyzed.Results The ultrasonography measurements clearly showed the laryngeal structure and TVF measurement marks.After vocal fold shortening and retrodisplacement of anterior commissure(VFSRAC) surgery, the ultrasonographic measurements showed that the shortening length of TVF were 0.37 cm(21%),0.69 cm(37%) and 0.40 cm(25%), respectively.The CTD in ultrasonographicimages were 1.0 cm pre-surgery of cricothyroid approximation (CTA) and-0.33 post-surgery of CTA.The displacement of cricoid cartilage was 1.33 cm, which was consistent with the laryngeal CT image.Conclusion Both TVF length and CTD can be shown by high-frequency ultrasonography, which can be used to quantitatively assessment and follow-up MtF transsexual voice surgery.