Voice disorders in children – a single center experience

Abstract

Background: Voice disorders in children are frequent and require early diagnosis and treatment. If not diagnosed in time, they can result in chronic hoarseness which can create communication disorders in children during sensitive school period. Multidisciplinary team comprising otolaryngologist, speech therapist and psychologist is necessary for diagnosis and treatment. Methods: A total of 120 patients were enrolled in this study between January 2018 and January 2020, 80 male and 40 female from four to 18 years old. Fiberendoscopy and videostroboscopy were performed in each patient, all were evaluted by speech therapist and psychologist, and almost all of them underwent voice rehabilitation. Results: Out of 120 patients with voice disorders 104 had acquired, functional voice disorder, and 16 had primary organic vocal cord lesion, comprising seven vocal cord cysts and nine juvenile laryngeal papillomatoses. Conclusion: Hoarseness in children is frequent. Multidisciplinary team consisting of otolaryngologist, speech therapist, and psychologist is necessary in diagnosis and treatment of this disorder. The majority of patients had acquired, functional voice disorder, and required speech therapist voice rehabilitation. Based on our experience, surgery is indicated in 13% of cases.

Keywords

• voice disorders – diagnosis
• physiopathology
• therapy; hoarseness – diagnosis