Laryngoscopy of vocal fold paralysis: evaluation of consistency of clinical findings

Laryngoscopy is the principal tool for the clinical assessment of vocal fold paralysis (VFP). Yet no consistent, unified vocabulary to describe laryngoscopic findings exists, compromising the evaluation and comparison of cases, outcomes, and treatment. The goal of this investigation was to evaluate laryngoscopic findings in VFP for inter- and intra-rater consistency. Prospective survey-based study. Half-minute excerpts from stroboscopic exams of 22 patients with VFP were mailed to 22 fellowship-trained laryngologists. Each reviewer was sent exams in randomized order, with three random repeats included to determine intra-rater reliability. Twelve laryngoscopic criteria were assessed and recorded on preprinted sheets. Eleven criteria were binary in nature (yes/no); glottic insufficiency was rated on a four-point scale (none/mild/moderate/severe). Raters were blinded to clinical history, each other's ratings, and to their own previous ratings. Inter-rater agreement was calculated by Fleiss' kappa. Twenty reviewers (91%) replied. Intra-rater reliability by reviewer ranged from 66% to 100% and by laryngoscopic criterion from 77% to 100%. Of the laryngoscopic criteria used, glottic insufficiency (kappa = 0.55), vocal fold bowing (kappa = 0.49), and salivary pooling (kappa = 0.45) showed moderate agreement between reviewers. Arytenoid stability (kappa = 0.1), arytenoid position (kappa = 0.12), and vocal fold height mismatch (kappa = 0.12) showed poor agreement. The remainder showed slight to fair agreement. Inter-rater agreement on commonly used laryngoscopic criteria is generally fair to poor. Glottic insufficiency, vocal fold bowing, and salivary pooling demonstrated the most agreement among responding laryngologists. These findings suggest a need for a standardized descriptive scheme for laryngoscopic findings in VFP

Velopharyngeal Dystonia: An Unusual Focal Task-specific Dystonia?

Background: Velopharyngeal dysfunction produces a nasal speech pattern because of the inability to close the nasal airway during speech, most often associated with anatomical abnormalities of the palate. Case Report: We describe two cases of possible velopharyngeal dystonia, a task-specific movement disorder causing a speech pattern similar to velopharyngeal dysfunction. Both patients experienced treatment response with anticholinergic medication. Discussion: Dystonia affecting speech via involvement of the pharyngeal musculature may be an unrecognized etiology of voice disorders.</p

Return to Vocal Performance Following Microlaryngoscopy in Singers

INTRODUCTION: Although microlaryngoscopy has been recognized to be effective in addressing lesions in vocal performers, no detailed information regarding return to performance (RTP) following surgery exists. We describe our experience and offer proposals to establish standardized criteria for RTP among vocal performers. METHODS: Records for adult vocalists who underwent microlaryngoscopy for benign vocal fold (VF) lesions and had a clearly documented RTP date between 2006 and 2022 were reviewed. Patient demographics, diagnoses, interventions, and postsurgical care before and after RTP were described. The need for medical and procedural interventions and rate of reinjury were used to determine the success of RTP. RESULTS: Sixty-nine vocal performers (average age: 32.8 years, 41 [59.4%] female, 61 [88.4%] musical theater) underwent surgery for 37 (53.6%) pseudocysts, 25 (36.2%) polyps, 5 (7.2%) cysts, 1 (1.4%) varix, and 1 (1.4%) mucosal bridge. Fifty-seven (82.6%) underwent voice therapy. The average time to RTP was 65.0 ± 29.8 days. Prior to RTP, six (8.7%) experienced VF edema requiring oral steroids and one (1.4%) underwent a VF steroid injection. Within 6 months following RTP, eight (11.6%) received oral steroids for edema and three underwent procedural interventions (two steroid injections for edema/stiffness, one injection augmentation for paresis). One patient experienced pseudocyst recurrence. CONCLUSIONS: Return to vocal performance at an average of 2 months following microlaryngoscopy for benign lesions appears overwhelmingly successful, with low rates of need for additional intervention. There is a need for validated instruments to better measure performance fitness to refine and possibly accelerate RTP. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 4 Laryngoscope, 134:329-334, 2024

The Laryngoscope Current Practice in Injection Augmentation of the Vocal Folds: Indications, Treatment Principles, Techniques, and Complications

Objectives/Hypothesis: To identify contemporary indications, treatment principles, technique, injection materials, complications, and success rates of vocal fold injection augmentation. Study Design: Multi-institutional retrospective review. Methods: Records of patients undergoing injection augmentation at seven university medical centers from July 2007 through June 2008 were reviewed for information regarding diagnosis, unilateral or bilateral injection, route of injection, anesthesia, treatment site (office or operating room), material used, reason for technique selected, and technical success. Results: In 12 months, 460 injections were performed, 236 (51%) in awake, unsedated patients, and 224 (49%) under general anesthesia. Indications included vocal fold paralysis (248; 54%), paresis (97; 21%), atrophy (68; 15%) and scar (47; 10%). Scar was more likely to be treated in the operating room (P ¼ .000052). In awake patients, 112 (47%) injections were performed by transcricothyroid approach, 55 (23%) by peroral approach, 49 (21%) by transthyrohyoid membrane approach, and 20 (8%) by transthyroid cartilage approach. Neither technical success rate (99% vs. 97%) nor complication rate (3% vs. 2%) differed between awake and asleep techniques. The most common materials in the clinic setting were methylcellulose (35%), bovine collagen (28%), and calcium hydroxylapatite (26%); in the operating room these were calcium hydroxylapatite (36%) and methylcellulose (35%). Calcium hydroxylapatite was more likely to be used under general anesthesia (P ¼ .019). Five-year data show that the use of injection in the awake patient rose from 11% to 43% from 2003 to 2008. Conclusions: Injection augmentation remains a safe, effective, and clinically practical treatment with a high rate of success, whether performed in the awake or asleep patient. The rapid adoption of awake injection over the past 5 years speaks to its clinical utility. Complication rates are low and equivalent to those under general anesthesia. Otolaryngologists continue to use a variety of techniques and materials to treat a range of conditions of glottic insufficiency

Automatic classification of informative laryngoscopic images using deep learning.

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to develop and validate a convolutional neural network (CNN)-based algorithm for automatic selection of informative frames in flexible laryngoscopic videos. The classifier has the potential to aid in the development of computer-aided diagnosis systems and reduce data processing time for clinician-computer scientist teams. METHODS: A dataset of 22,132 laryngoscopic frames was extracted from 137 flexible laryngostroboscopic videos from 115 patients. 55 videos were from healthy patients with no laryngeal pathology and 82 videos were from patients with vocal fold polyps. The extracted frames were manually labeled as informative or uninformative by two independent reviewers based on vocal fold visibility, lighting, focus, and camera distance, resulting in 18,114 informative frames and 4018 uninformative frames. The dataset was split into training and test sets. A pre-trained ResNet-18 model was trained using transfer learning to classify frames as informative or uninformative. Hyperparameters were set using cross-validation. The primary outcome was precision for the informative class and secondary outcomes were precision, recall, and F1-score for all classes. The processing rate for frames between the model and a human annotator were compared. RESULTS: The automated classifier achieved an informative frame precision, recall, and F1-score of 94.4%, 90.2%, and 92.3%, respectively, when evaluated on a hold-out test set of 4438 frames. The model processed frames 16 times faster than a human annotator. CONCLUSION: The CNN-based classifier demonstrates high precision for classifying informative frames in flexible laryngostroboscopic videos. This model has the potential to aid researchers with dataset creation for computer-aided diagnosis systems by automatically extracting relevant frames from laryngoscopic videos