Injection versus medialization laryngoplasty for the treatment of unilateral vocal fold paralysis: follow-up at six months.

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS: To determine whether injection laryngoplasty or medialization laryngoplasty is more effective in the long-term treatment of unilateral vocal fold paralysis (UVFP).

STUDY DESIGN: A retrospective study of patients with UFVP who underwent either injection or medialization laryngoplasty at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences between July 29, 2003 and November 18, 2005.

METHODS: The data analyzed included patient characteristics and type of intervention, along with the pretreatment and post-treatment parameters of videostrobolaryngoscopy, perceptual voice analysis, and patients' subjective assessment of voice handicap.

RESULTS: Thirty-four patients were evaluated, 15 new and 19 from a previous study. The average time from intervention to post-treatment evaluation in the new cohort was 4.8 months (range, 1.5-10.5 months). The average time from intervention to post-treatment in the combined cohort was 6.4 months (range, 1-24 months). Improvements were demonstrated in each of the measured voice parameters in both the injection and the medialization groups, and no significant differences were found in the degree of improvement between the two groups. Limited data on aerodynamic and acoustic voice measurements showed a trend toward improvement in each treatment group.

CONCLUSIONS: Injection and medialization laryngoplasty were comparable in achieving voice improvement at the average long-term follow-up of 6 months.