Puccinelli C, et al. - The intention of the authors was to determine the cardiothoracic procedures related to symptomatic unilateral vocal fold paralysis (UVFP). Furthermore, they sought to appraise the timing and nature of laryngology diagnosis and management and to report the spontaneous recovery rate of vocal fold mobility. The results shed light on the tie-up between several cardiothoracic procedures with symptomatic UVFP, predominantly left-sided. Poor recovery was yielded of the vocal fold mobility relative to other studies. The significant factors in the care of such patients were early diagnosis and potential surgical medialization.

Methods

• The design of the research was a retrospective case series study performed at single tertiary referral center between 2002 and 2015.
• The enrollment consisted of 141 patients who underwent laryngology interventions (micronized acellular dermis injection laryngoplasty and/or type 1 thyroplasty) to treat symptomatic UVFP diagnosed subsequent to cardiothoracic surgery.

Results

• A frequent link was brought to light between pulmonary procedures with UVFP (n = 50/141; 35.5%).
• Among the enrollees, 87.2% presented with left-sided paralysis (n = 123/141).
• Median time to diagnosis was 42 days (Math Eq = 114 ± 348).
• Following the cardiothoracic surgery, UVFP was diagnosed progressively earlier.
• Herein, 63.4% of patients (n = 95/141) underwent injection laryngoplasty as their initial intervention with median time from diagnosis to injection of 11 days (Math Eq = 29.6 ± 54). 41.1% (n = 58/141) ultimately underwent type 1 thyroplasty at a median of 232.5 days (Math Eq = 367 ± 510.2) after cardiothoracic surgery.
• The recovery of full vocal fold mobility was noted in 10.2% (n = 9/88) of those with adequate follow-up.