Glottic insufficiency in patients with vocal fold atrophy with or without sulcus: treatment modalities and outcome

Abstract

This thesis focuses on surgical treatment to improve glottic closure in patients with glottic insufficiency due to vocal fold atrophy and sulcus and how to demonstrate this improvement. Surgical treatments evaluated in this thesis are trial vocal fold injection (VFI), bilateral VFI with autologous fat and bilateral medialization thyroplasty. Lastly, a systematic literature review was performed to identify outcome measurements instruments (OMIs) for this specific patient group.

With the results we hope to attribute to the optimal counseling and treating of these patients by obtaining more insight into (1) patient selection, (2) voice outcome after surgical treatment, (3) voice outcome measurements.