Voice surgery

BACKGROUND: Morbidly obese patients may suffer from vocal disorders, as vocal production is directly related to the volume of the vocal tract, and the large-scale accumulation of fat in this region may interfere with voice production. The aim of this study was to analyze the neck circumference, fundamental frequency, and maximum phonation time of a group of morbidly obese women before and after bariatric surgery. METHODS: An observational, longitudinal, and descriptive study was performed with patients of the Obesity and Related Diseases Surgery Unit of a university hospital...

INTRODUCTION: With the development of new ENT techniques, many male transsexuals who wish to become women usually request a surgical procedure to raise the fundamental frequency of the voice (feminization). The ENT specialist and the voice-therapist have to use an interdisciplinary approach to this growing social demand. The aim of this study was to show the results in a group of transsexual patients after Wendler's anterior synechiae, with additional voice-therapy treatment. METHODS: Ten male transexulas who wish to become women patients who had Wendler glottoplasty and voice-therapy were assessed...

BACKGROUND: Hoarseness (dysphonia) is the reason for about 1% of all consultations in primary care. It has many causes, ranging from self-limited laryngitis to malignant tumors of the vocal cords. METHODS: This review is based on literature retrieved by a selective search in PubMed employing the terms "hoarseness," "hoarse voice," and "dysphonia," on the relevant guideline of the American Academy of Otolaryngology -Head and Neck Surgery, and on Cochrane reviews...

OBJECTIVES: Voice and speech alternations that can occur after total thyroidectomy are usually due to recurrent or superior laryngeal nerve injury. These alterations may also be associated with other extralaryngeal factors, such as neck muscle dysfunction and scar contracture of the neck. We performed a prospective acoustic analysis on speech changes after surgery, in the absence of laryngeal nerve injury. METHODS: Patients aged 19 to 58 years undergoing total thyroidectomy, in the absence of laryngeal/pulmonary disease, previous neck surgery, or other malignant diseases, were recruited prospectively...

Scarring of the vocal folds leads to a deterioration of the highly complex micro-structure with consecutively impaired vibratory pattern and glottic insufficiency. The resulting dysphonia is predominantly characterized by a reduced vocal capacity. Despite the considerable progress in understanding of the underlying pathophysiology, the treatment of scarred vocal folds is still an unresolved chapter in laryngology and phonosurgery. Essential for a successful treatment is an individual, multi-dimensional concept that comprises the whole armamentarium of surgical and non-surgical (i...

Tissue regeneration of the vocal fold lamina propria extracellular matrix (ECM) will be facilitated by the use of suitable vocal fold fibroblast (VFF) cell lines in appropriate model systems. Primary human VFFs (hVFFs) were steadily transduced by a retroviral vector containing human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) gene; immortalized cells grew and divided vigorously for more than 120 days. Biochemical characterization of the six transduced lines included, at different time points, expression of hTERT, telomerase activity, telomere lengths, and transcript levels of ECM constituents...