Premium
Treatment success for age‐related vocal fold atrophy
Author(s) -
GartnerSchmidt Jackie,
Rosen Clark
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
the laryngoscope
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.181
H-Index - 148
eISSN - 1531-4995
pISSN - 0023-852X
DOI - 10.1002/lary.21122
Subject(s) - atrophy , medicine , voice therapy , retrospective cohort study , cohort , voice training , group b , surgery , pediatrics , audiology
Objectives/Hypothesis: To characterize perceived voice handicap of patients diagnosed with vocal fold atrophy and review treatment success. Study Design: Retrospective study. Methods: Two hundred seventy‐five patients diagnosed with vocal fold atrophy (January 2007–January 2009) were reviewed from a preexisting clinical database. Outcome measures included pre/post‐treatment Voice Handicap Index‐10 and data from a voice therapy discharge survey. Results: Five groups emerged from the data set. Group A: patients who had no follow‐up (69%). After removing group A from the data set, the following groups emerged: group B: patients who had no treatment but some follow‐up (31%); group C: patients who had voice therapy only (44%); group D: patients who had surgery only (15%); and group E: patients who had voice therapy first and subsequent surgery (9%). The perceived voice handicap severity was worse for groups C and D compared to groups A, B, and E. Treatment success outcomes showed that groups C (36%), D (56%), and E (17%) only improved marginally. However, 81% of patients diagnosed with atrophy believed that voice therapy helped them but only by 48%. Conclusions: Treatment success for age‐related vocal fold atrophy is poor to moderately poor for this cohort of patients. Laryngoscope, 2011