Reduction in Short‐ and Long‐term Pneumonia Rate With Laryngoplasty for Unilateral Vocal Fold Paralysis

Abstract

Objective To examine the association of laryngoplasty, voice therapy, and pneumonia rate in patients with unilateral vocal fold paralysis (UVFP). Study Design Population-based retrospective cohort study. Setting Data were collected from the LHID2000 (Longitudinal Health Insurance Database 2000), containing the information of 1 million randomly selected patients in Taiwan. Methods In the LHID2000, we identified 439 patients having new diagnoses of UVFP from 1997 to 2013. We grouped the aforementioned patients according to UVFP treatment and probed the occurrence of pneumonia: 305 patients underwent laryngoplasty or voice therapy, and 134 patients did not undergo treatment. Follow-up procedures were executed for the enrollees until death or December 31, 2013, representing the end of the study period. We assessed the association of UVFP treatment and pneumonia by executing Cox proportional hazards regression. Results The pneumonia cumulative incidence was significantly higher among enrolled patients without treatment than in those receiving treatment ( P < .001). The pneumonia incidence was significantly lower in patients receiving UVFP treatment (hazard ratio, 0.49; 95% CI, 0.27-0.88; P = .018), as validated by the Cox proportional hazards model after adjustment. Patients undergoing laryngoplasty with or without voice therapy had a significantly lower incidence of pneumonia at 6 months and 1, 3, and 5 years, whereas those undergoing voice therapy alone did not. Conclusion Laryngoplasty was associated with a lower incidence of short- and long-term pneumonia in patients with UVFP. Physicians should encourage patients with UVFP at risk of aspiration to receive prompt evaluation as well as treatment.

Should Injection Laryngoplasty Be Performed for Acute Unilateral Vocal Fold Paralysis to Improve Swallowing safety?

“…Two recent studies set their primary outcome measure as the incidence of pneumonia following UVFP 3,4 . Barnes et al isolated a retrospective cohort of cardiothoracic patients who suffered acute UVFP and evaluated whether IL impacted pneumonia rates 6 months following surgery.…”

“…Interestingly, they separated injuries into different etiologies and found that patients with high vagal injury had worse initial FOIS scores and were less likely to have an improvement in Two recent studies set their primary outcome measure as the incidence of pneumonia following UVFP. 3,4 Barnes et al isolated a retrospective cohort of cardiothoracic patients who suffered acute UVFP and evaluated whether IL impacted pneumonia rates 6 months following surgery. A control group was included, as 57 of their 92 patients (62%) declined IL.…”