Role and Effectiveness of Postoperative Voice Therapy in Laryngeal Microsurgery / 대한이비인후과학회지

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Voice therapy is performed following laryngeal microsurgery to help the recovery of the operation site and assist in optimal voice output. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of postoperative voice therapy and to obtain objective evidence about the necessity of voice therapy. SUBJECTS AND METHOD: The voice of 109 patients who underwent laryngeal microsurgery for vocal fold lesions and received voice therapy was analyzed. Voice analysis was performed preoperatively, postoperatively, and after the first voice therapy. GRBAS scale was used for auditory perceptual evaluation and acoustic analysis was performed for objective evaluation. RESULTS: Overall, significant improvement was observed postoperatively in both auditory perceptual evaluation and acoustic parameters, and significantly better voice was obtained after the first postoperative voice therapy. The degree of postoperative voice improvement varied on the type of vocal fold lesions, but voice quality was improved in all diseases after first postoperative voice therapy. The number of voice therapy decreased significantly as the voice quality improved after the operation or the first voice therapy. Four or more voice therapy were needed when the cepstral/spectral index of dysphonia (CSID) value was 5.88 or higher. CONCLUSION: Voice therapy following laryngeal microsurgery was effective in better voice output. The CSID value after the first postoperative voice therapy was predictive of finding patients who need long-term voice therapy. These results suggest that the first postoperative voice therapy will be helpful in finding the adequate vocalization method and providing objective evidence for selecting patients who would require continuous voice therapy.