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Timing of nimodipine therapy for the treatment of vocal fold paralysis
Author(s) -
Sridharan Shaum S.,
Rosen Clark A.,
Smith Libby J.,
Young VyVy N.,
Munin Michael C.
Publication year - 2015
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.24903
Subject(s) - nimodipine , medicine , vocal fold paralysis , anesthesia , paralysis , retrospective cohort study , surgery , calcium
Objectives/Hypothesis To retrospectively determine optimal timing for initiation of nimodipine within a cohort of patients with acute vocal fold paralysis (VFP). Study Design Retrospective patient review. Methods Subjects were divided into three groups: initiation within 15 days postinjury (n = 19), between 15 and 30 days postinjury (n = 23), or greater than 30 days postinjury (n = 11). Results Fifty‐one patients (53 paralyzed vocal folds [VFs]) met entrance criteria and were offered and started off‐label nimodipine treatment. Thirty‐six of 53 VFs recovered purposeful motion (67.9%). There was no significant difference in the rate of VF recovery among patients who began nimodipine within 15 days (68.4%), patients who started nimodipine between 15 and 30 days (73.9%) of nerve injury ( P = .1405), and patients who initiated nimodipine after 30 days postinjury (54.5%). Conclusions Nimodipine treatment for acute VFP yielded equal VF motion recovery rates regardless of when the medication was initiated. Time to recovery of motion was not different between groups studied. Level of Evidence 4 Laryngoscope , 125:186–190, 2015