• Tuan-Jen Fang, Li-Jen Hsin, Hsiu-Feng Chung, Hui-Chen Chiang, Hsueh-Yu Li, WongAlice M KAMK, and Yu-Chen Pei.
• From the Department of Otolaryngology, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taipei (T-JF, L-JH, H-FC, H-YL); School of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan (T-JF, L-JH, H-YL, AMKW, Y-CP); Department of Management, Graduate School, Ming Chung University (H-CC); Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital (AMKW, Y-CP); Healthy Aging Research Center, Chang Gung University (Y-CP); and Center of Biomedical Engineering, Chang Gung University, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC (Y-CP).
• Medicine (Baltimore). 2015 Oct 1; 94 (40): e1787.

AbstractThoracic-surgery-related unilateral vocal fold paralysis (UVFP) may cause severe morbidity and can cause profound functional impairment and psychosocial stress in patients with pre-existing thoracic diseases. In-office intracordal hyaluronate (HA) injections have recently been applied to improve voice and quality of life in patients with vocal incompetence, but their effect on thoracic-surgery-related UVFP remains inconclusive. We therefore conducted a prospective study to clarify the effect of early HA injection on voice and quality of life in patients with thoracic-surgery-related UVFP. Patients with UVFP within 3 months after thoracic surgery who received office-based HA injection were recruited. Quantitative laryngeal electromyography, videolaryngostroboscopy, voice-related life quality (voice outcome survey), laboratory voice analysis, and health-related quality of life (SF-36) were evaluated at baseline, and at 1 month postinjection. A total of 104 consecutive patients accepted office-based HA intracordal injection during the study period, 34 of whom were treated in relation to thoracic surgery and were eligible for inclusion. Voice-related life quality, voice laboratory analysis, and most generic quality of life domains were significantly improved at 1 month after in-office HA intracordal injection. No HA-related complications were reported. Single office-based HA intracordal injection is a safe and effective treatment for thoracic-surgery-related UVFP, resulting in immediate improvements in patient quality of life, voice quality, and swallowing ability.

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