Does voıce therapy after endolarygeal mıcrosurgery contrıbute to the treatment of vocal fold polyp?

Abstract

İntroduction: The aim of this study was to assess the contribution of voice therapy to management of patients following surgery for vocal fold polyps.

Methods: In this prospective study, two groups were created by randomizing patients diagnosed with vocal fold polyps. Group 1 received only phonosurgery, and Group 2 received phonosurgery followed by voice therapy. Subjective test methods conducted before and after treatment were evaluated comparatively. Videolaryngostroboscopy, the Voice Handicap Index-10 (VHI-10), and voice analysis parameters, including fundamental frequency variation (vF0), jitter percent (Jitt%), shimmer percent (Shim%), Noise-to-Harmonic ratio (NHR), and maximum phonation time (MPT), were compared before and after treatment.

Results: The data of 40 patients, 15 (37.5%) women and 25 (62.5%) man were examined in this study. Significant reductions were observed in the pre- and post-treatment values in the Voice Handicap Index-10 (VHI-10) and GRBAS scale (p < 0.001). In terms of aerodynamic analysis, a decrease was observed in the S/Z ratio in both groups after treatment.Regarding maximum phonation time (MPT), a statistically significant increase was observed following treatment in (1) both groups (p < 0.001) and (2) Group 2 versus Group 1 (p < 0.001).In terms of acoustic voice analysis, both groups showed an increase in fundamental frequency (F0) and a statistically significant decrease in jitter and shimmer values. When comparing these parameter changes, it was observed that Group 2 had a statistically significant difference compared to Group 1 (F0; Jitt; Shim; p = 0.082; p = 0.014; p = 0.035, respectively).

Conclusion: In this study comparing the outcomes of vocal fold polyp treatment using only surgery versus surgery combined with voice therapy, it was found that the addition of voice therapy to endolaryngeal phonosurgery provided a significant positive contribution.