The Clinical Characteristics of Unilateral Vocal Fold Paralysis and Arytenoid Dislocation / 听力学及言语疾病杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the value of clinical characteristics in diagnosis of vocal fold paralysis (VFP) and arytenoid dislocation .Methods Eighty - eight patients of VFP and 27 patients of arytenoid dislocation were studied , by comparing the causes , laryngeal morphologic characteristics and laryngeal electromyography (LEMG) .Results The causes of 88 VFP patients included surgery (45 cases) ,neck trauma(2 cases) ,idiopathic causes(16 cases) ,infection(16 cases) ,and tumor invasion - related(9 cases) .Of the 27 arytenoid dislocation pa‐tients ,24 had a history of endotracheal intubation and the others had a history of gastric tube insertion .The vocal folds were mostly fixed at the paramedian position ,followed by the abducent position and the median position .No significant differences were found in laryngeal morphologic characteristics between the two groups ,including vocal fold shape , glottis vertical symmetry , mucosal waves , supraglottic compensation , glottis closure and arytenoid movement .The LEMG of VFP patients appeared as denervation patterns ,reinnervation potentials ,or electrical si‐lence ;the recruitment patterns appeared as mix or simple patterns ;the evoked potentials were absent .Of the VFP patients ,54 cases(61 .36% % )were found synkinesis of involved posterior cricoarytenoid and two of them also in ‐volved thyroatenoid .The patients with synkinesis had lower percentage of vocal fold bowing and higher percentage of glottic vertical asymmetry compared to the ones without synkinesis .Of the VFP patients whose cause was surgery or neck trauma ,the median - position fixed vocal folds were mostly observed in the patients with duration of less than 1 month or with synkinesis .Of the 27 arytenoid dislocation patients ,20(74 .07% )showed normal LEMG pat‐terns and 7(25 .93% )showed apparent LEMG abnormality on the affected side .Conclusion The causes of vocal fold paralysis and arytenoid dislocation are different .Laryngeal morphologic characteristics have limitations in distinguis‐hing vocal fold paralysis from arytenoid dislocation .The shape and position of involved vocal folds of the VFP pa‐tients are correlated with duration ,nerve regeneration and synkinesis .