As the population ages, the management of vocal fold carcinomas should be evaluated. In this retrospective study on 33 patients aged 75 and more, the authors compared the results of radiotherapy and endoscopic treatment for T1 and T2 glottic carcinoma....
The management of unilateral vocal cord paralysis has changed in the last few years: this has largely come about as a result of improvements in technology, meaning that medialisations are quicker and easier to perform than previously. This article will...
It is well recognised that benign lesions of one vocal cord can give rise to reactive lesions of the contralateral vocal cord directly opposite to the primary lesion. These contralateral reactive lesions (CRLs) are thought to arise due to impact...
The concept of iatrogenic recurrent laryngeal nerve injury following thyroid surgery is often considered with respect to voice change but its potential impact on airway physiology has thus far not been evaluated. A cross-sectional observational study reviewed 21 patients with...
This is an interesting paper that describes the use of intralesional steroid injections to treat vocal cord mucus retention cysts. The gold standard is microlaryngoscopy and excision of the lesion. In patients who may be unable to undergo surgery, this...
Vocal cord immobility is the second most common abnormality of the larynx in the paediatric population. The team from New York aimed to characterise the long-term swallowing function in a cohort of patients with bilateral vocal cord immobility over a...
Patients who are discovered to have a vocal cord palsy with no obvious cause on history or examination routinely undergo investigations to exclude an underlying pathology. Cross-sectional imaging of the relevant recurrent laryngeal nerve is required, but considerable variability has...
This is a well written paper utilising the Hospital Episode Statistics dataset for all thyroidectomies performed in England between 2004 and 2012. The study had a very impressive 43,515 participants and only included young, fit patients undergoing thyroidectomy once for...
This retrospective review of voice outcomes following a diagnosis of unilateral vocal fold paralysis divided patients into three groups according to the time of initiation of voice therapy following the onset of paralysis. The ‘early’ group started voice therapy within...
Unilateral vocal cord paralysis which is not due to irreversible causes such as malignancy, systemic disease or trauma varies considerably in terms of full recovery and restoration of voice. Usually electromyography is used to make possible predictions, but this facility...
Patients frequently present to the ENT department with breathing difficulties. The entity of ‘vocal cord dysfunction’ (also known as paradoxical vocal cord movement, inducible laryngeal obstruction, and many other names) is increasingly well recognised. Ravi Thevasagayam gives us an overview....
We are delighted to publish a further update on the use of the technique for vocal fold lateralisation in neonates from Laszlo Rovo and Shahram Madani, who have previously informed us of this new technique [1]. These cases are rare...