Do We Cause Dysphagia When Treating Spasmodic Dysphonia with Botox?

Abstract

Objective: Spasmodic dysphonia (SD) is a neurological movement disorder involving the laryngeal muscles. There are three main types: adductor, abductor, and mixed type. Adductor type is the most common and mixed type is the rarest. Botox, the gold standard in treatment, is applied to the affected muscle group according to the type of SD. Dysphagia often occurs as a side effect of botulinum toxin injection treatment in spasmodic dystonia. Dysphagia may sometimes be seen secondary to SD. Methods: This study included 8 patients with adductor SD without dysphagia and 8 healthy subjects. The total number is 16. Swallowing evaluation of both groups was performed by fiberoptic endosopic evaluation of swallowing (FEES), electromyography (EMG) and ultrasound (US). Results: Swallowing functions of patients with adductor SD were reevaluated after botox injection into the thyroarytenoid muscle. No significant difference was observed in both groups . Conclusion: In our study, our patient group consisted of patients with SD without dysphagia, and dysphagia was not observed in patients evaluated with FEES, EMG and US after Botox.

Keywords

• swallowing/dysphagia
• voice/dysphonia
• laryngeal dystonia/tremor