How does endoscopic surgery for subglottic stenosis affect voice outcomes?
Reviewed by Gemma Clunie

Patients with subglottic stenosis (SGS) require interventions to improve their breathing and airway patency. Increasingly, these interventions are completed endoscopically but little is known about how endoscopic surgery impacts voice outcomes. The authors of this study completed a systematic review of the literature following a PICOS framework. Their inclusion criteria were patients aged 18 and over with SGS who underwent endoscopic dilatation and adjuvant procedures. Voice-related outcomes could include patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs), auditory-perceptual findings, acoustic and aerodynamic outcomes. All study designs except reviews and case studies were included. PubMed and Cochrane databases were used for the searches. Following full text review, 8 articles were included in the final review. Study quality and risk of bias were assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS). There were 829 subjects included across all 8 studies, with a mean age of 50.9 years and the majority were female (96.5%). All studies were an observational design. Seven of the 8 studies were rated ‘good’ quality, and 1 was ‘fair’. Voice outcomes across the studies were heterogeneous. PROMs indicated broad improvement but were inconsistent in terms of statistical significance. Auditory-perceptual scales such as GRBAS and CAPE-V identified mild dysphonia at baseline but preserved function post-procedure, whilst acoustic measures suggested improvements post-procedure. Whilst endoscopic dilatation is showing potential in improving voice outcomes, future studies need to use consistent and validated voice outcomes alongside stronger methodological designs to demonstrate more robust findings.

Voice Outcomes After Endoscopic Intervention in Subglottic Stenosis: A Systematic Review. 
Hasson AM, Saltsgaver M, Carlson A, Husain IA.
LARYNGOSCOPE 
2026;136(3):1052–061.