Vocal Cord Immobility

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What is vocal cord immobility?

When we breathe, the song cords open up to allow air to laissez passer into the windpipe. They shut confronting each other when nosotros talk, swallow and cough. When i vocal string does not move properly (unilateral song cord immobility), it tin lead to a weak, breathy vocalization, inability to raise the volume of the vocalization and the sensation of running out of air while speaking. Problems with swallowing and a weak cough are common as well. When both vocal cords do not move properly, patients may feel trouble breathing.

There are many possible reasons why a song cord does not move properly, but it about oft relates to a problem with the recurrent laryngeal nervus (which controls the vocal string muscles) rather than a problem with the vocal string itself. Injury to the nerve post-obit surgery in the neck or breast is a common cause of vocal cord immobility. Other causes include:

  • Stroke

  • Neurologic disorders

  • Tumors in the voice box, neck, thyroid or breast that cause the vocal string nerve to malfunction

  • Neck trauma

  • Voice box trauma after having a animate tube in your windpipe

Occasionally, one or both song cords practise not motion properly after scar formation or a trouble with the vocal string joint. If scars form in the back of the phonation box between the vocal cords, this can cause both vocal cords to not movement properly — this is chosen laryngeal stenosis.

Vocal Cord Immobility Treatment

The goal of handling for unilateral VCI is to re-position the impaired vocal cord closer to the middle, so that the other vocal string can close completely against it. If the gap betwixt the song cords can exist closed, then vocalism can be made stronger and swallowing can exist made safer. This procedure to move the vocal cord over toward the middle is chosen medialization, and in that location are dissimilar ways to do it. Your doctor tin can tell you which approach is most appropriate for yous, depending on the cause of the immobility and potential for recovery of nerve function.

The goal of treatment for bilateral VCI is ofttimes to secure a safe mode for a patient to breathe. This may involve placement of a breathing tube in the neck (tracheotomy) or making a minor cut in the back of the song cord (cordotomy) to open the airway for breathing. If you are diagnosed with bilateral vocal cord immobility, your treatment team volition have all-encompassing conversations with you virtually which options are available.

Treatment options include:

Temporary injections: A filler is injected into the vocal cord to make it thicker and move its inner border closer to the center. Temporary fillers oft final one to three months. The procedure tin oftentimes be done in a clinic, and our experts are very experienced in performing these in-function injections. Rarely, the injections cannot be performed in a clinic and must be washed in an operating room.

Long-term injections: These are like to temporary injections, but the injection of a filler is designed to last one year or longer.

Permanent implants: If return of vocal cord function is not expected for the patient, a permanent medialization may exist desired. During this procedure, which is performed in an operating room, an implant is placed backside the vocal cord through an incision in the neck.

Arytenoid re-positioning: Occasionally, when the front of a vocal cord is medialized with a permanent implant, the back of the song cord remains open, leading to persistent symptoms. Surgeries are available to close the back of the song cord.

Song cord reinnervation: For younger patients who don't want an implant in their pharynx, it is possible to use culling nerves from the neck to restore function of the song cord muscle. The goal is not to make the vocal string motility over again but to provide nerve signals to the muscle that prevent cloudburst and allow the vocal cord to maintain its shape.

grandfather and granddaughter singing

Johns Hopkins Partitioning of Laryngology

We offer personalized and comprehensive treatment plans for patients with vocalisation, swallowing, and complex airway disorders. You will benefit from laryngologists who have vast experience in treating these disorders and tin provide patients summit-notch care.