Latest Vocal Cord Surgery for Cyst/Polyp, Tumour
Vocal cords are small bands of folded muscles present within the larynx. These muscles vibrate to produce sound. These muscles or vocal cords develop extra, abnormal, cancerous, or non-cancerous growths like nodules, polyps, and cysts, causing vocal cord lesions. These lesions may need to be eliminated through a surgery called the “Vocal Cord Surgery”.
What is Vocal Cord Surgery?
Vocal cords surgery is done to remove the cysts, polyps, or tumours developed on the vocal cord. These cords act as guards to the entrance of the windpipe.
Vocal cords surgery is done to remove the cysts, polyps, or tumours developed on the vocal cord. These cords act as guards to the entrance of the windpipe.
Sometimes, when the vocal cords get damaged or strained as a result of abnormal growths or infections, they need to be treated through vocal cord surgery.
Why is Vocal Cord Surgery Performed?
Vocal cord lesions can cause symptoms ranging from hoarseness of voice to loss of voice. Some of the notable symptoms of vocal cord lesions include:
- • Hoarse voice
- • Multi-toned voice
- • Loss of vocal range
- • Vocal fatigue
- • Pain in the neck
- • Lump formation in the throat
- • Frequent coughing
- • General weakness
- • Throat clearing
People with vocal nodules and polyps may also develop raspy or scratchy voices with the frequent breaking of voice and extreme voice fatigue. Generally, the above symptoms are accompanied by pain that radiates from one end of the ear to another.
If you develop voice issues or other symptoms, the ENT specialist will examine the head and neck while checking on the voice use history. With the help of a specialised scope, the doctor will see the vocal cords and their vibration. Depending on the detailed examination, the doctor will suggest further diagnosis and treatment, including a voice cord surgery.
How is Vocal Cord Surgery performed?
When non-surgical treatment options are not effective enough to help remove the lesions of the vocal cords, your doctor may suggest surgical options to remove benign growths of the vocal cords. A Voice cord Surgery can be performed by one of the two given methods. Laser Surgery Laser surgery is one of the safe and effective treatments to eliminate benign growths in the vocal cords. Depending on the investigations, medical history, and voice evaluation, the small lesions and growths are removed through laser surgery. Laser surgery is a general outpatient surgery that can be performed in a doctor’s clinic and is mostly done immediately after the diagnosis. The procedure involves the following steps.
- • The doctor will numb the area using a spray.
- • Then, a scope is inserted through the nose down to the throat.
- • Laser or high-beam light energies are passed through the scope to destroy the lesions.
Laser surgery is a quick and easy procedure that requires no additional doctor’s appointment. It also causes less pain as the laser precisely and specifically destroys the benign lesions with fewer side effects like bleeding.
Microlaryngoscopy
For vocal cord lesions that are large and positioned in places far from the surgeon’s reach, micro laryngoscopy is performed. The procedure is minimally invasive and takes nearly 30 minutes to an hour. This surgical procedure is done under general anaesthesia and has the following steps.
- • A microscopically magnifying endoscope accesses the vocal cords through the mouth.
- • The tool enables high-quality magnified images of the vocal cords that allow the surgeons to locate and remove the lesions using small surgical instruments.
- • The vocal cords and the surrounding tissues get freed of the extra growths and tumours.
The procedure involves no stitches, and you are likely to go home the same day of the surgery.
