The outcome of unilateral endoscopic posterior cordotomy in bilateral abductor vocal cord paralysis

• Main Authors: Salih Bakır, Ülkü Tuncer
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dicle University Medical School 2009-01-01
• Series: Dicle Medical Journal
• Subjects: Vocal cord paralysis; endoscopic posterior cordotomy; outcomes of management
• Online Access: http://4181.indexcopernicus.com/fulltxt.php?ICID=893518

Aim: In this study, we aimed to investigate outcome of the endoscopic posterior cordotomy (EPC) operation in patients with bilateral abductor vocal cord paralysis (BAVCP), between January 1997 and March 2006 at Ear-Nose-Throat Department of Çukurova University Medical Faculty.Materials and Methods: The major cause of BAVCP was thyroidectomy operation (87.5%). We performed bilateral cordotomy only in two patients and unilateral cordotomy in the remaining 38 patients. In postoperative period, we assessed the patients both subjectively and objectively.Results: The success ratio was % 87.5 with the first intervention. Only 5 patients (12.5%) needed a revision operation.In subjective assessment, 23 patients found to had a good postoperative exercise tolerance (57.5%), and 17 patients had very good postoperative exercise tolerance (42.5%). In postoperative period, alterations of respiration and voice were investigated in 26 patients objectively. We used peak expiratory flow (PEF) measurement for assessment of respiration function. We found a significantly increased PEF value after endoscopic posterior cordotomy compared with preoperative period (p=0.004). Conclusion: In conclusion, unilateral EPC operation was seen as safe, effective, easy to do and short duration method for bilateral BAVCP