RESUMO
PURPOSE: To investigate the subjective effect of office-based blue laser therapy for inferior turbinate hypertrophy in patients with nasal obstruction. METHODS: Patients with nasal obstruction who underwent office-based blue laser for the inferior turbinate hypertrophy between October 2022 and December 2023 were included in the study. The two outcome measures used to gauge the improvement in nasal obstruction and success of surgery were the Nasal Obstruction Symptom Evaluation (NOSE) scale and the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). Patient's level of comfort during the procedure was also rated using a 10-point VAS scale. RESULTS: A total of 14 patients were included in this study. The mean age of the study group was 41.47 ± 18.52 and the F/M ratio was 4.67. All patients reported significant improvement in nasal breathing. The mean NOSE score decreased significantly from 13.07 ± 3.89 pre-operatively to 2.64 ± 2.43 post-operatively (p = 0.002). Similarly, the mean VAS score decreased from 7.43 ± 0.85 to 2.0 ± 1.57 (p = 0.002) following surgery. The procedure was well-tolerated by all participants and the mean total score ranged from 6 to 9 with an average of 7.59 ± 1.34. CONCLUSION: Office-based blue laser therapy for inferior turbinate hypertrophy may be an effective treatment modality for nasal obstruction from the patient's perspective. Although the procedures were tolerated well with no complications noted, these results should be cautiously interpreted until studies using objective measures are conducted.
RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of weight loss on voice. STUDY DESIGN: Prospective study. SUBJECTS: A total of 15 subjects undergoing bariatric surgery were investigated. Six subjects were lost to follow-up, and nine subjects were evaluated preoperatively and 3-6 months postoperatively. The evaluation included a questionnaire on voice quality filled by the patient, laryngeal examination, perceptual evaluation, and acoustic analysis. The questionnaire consisted of four questions: change in vocal pitch, change in vocal loudness, increase or decrease in phonatory effort, and the presence or absence of vocal fatigue. For the perceptual evaluation, a simplified version of the Grade, Roughness, Breathiness, Asthenia, Strain scale classification was used. These parameters were rated using a score ranging from zero to three where zero stands for none and three for severe. For the acoustic analysis, the following variables were measured: fundamental frequency, habitual pitch, jitter, shimmer, noise-to-harmonics ratio, voice turbulence index, and maximum phonation time. RESULTS: The mean age was 35.56 ± 9.93 years. The mean weight preoperatively and postoperatively was 112.17 and 83.61 kg, respectively. The body mass index dropped by eight points from 38.06 to 30.83. Only three of the nine patients have reported change in voice quality. The latter was described as an increase in vocal pitch in the three cases, reduced loudness and increased phonatory effort in two, and the presence of vocal fatigue in one. There was no significant difference in the mean score of any of the perceptual parameters in patients preoperatively versus postoperatively. There was also no significant difference in any of the acoustic parameters or in the laryngeal findings before and after surgery. CONCLUSION: One-third of the patients with weight loss reported change in voice quality that was not documented acoustically. The laryngeal examination is nonrevealing.
