Study of arytenoid adduction performed under general anesthesia

Abstract

When performing thyroplasty, local anesthesia is better to check patient’s voice. However, some cases need general anesthesia for various reasons. To evaluate limitations of arytenoid adduction (AA) under general anesthesia. We report five cases of AA performed under general anesthesia. Four cases were treated AA only and one case was performed nerve-muscle pedicle implantation with AA. Voice was evaluated by maximum phonation time (MPT), mean air flow rate (MFR), and auditory impression using four score levels (0–3) for grade (G), roughness (R) and breathiness (B). Improvements in MPT and MFR were seen all patients. However, glottal gap remained post-surgery with G (1) voice in four AA alone patients. Another patient who underwent AA with nerve-muscle pedicle implantation achieved excellent voice with G (0). AA under general anesthesia improve patient’s voice but sometimes insufficient. Combined treatment with nerve-muscle implantation should be considered.

Keywords

• arytenoid adduction surgery
• general anesthesia
• local anesthesia
• nerve-pedicle implantation