COMPARISON BETWEEN CARBONDIOXIDE LASER AND COLD INSTRUMENTS IN TREATMENT OF VOCAL NODULE

Treatment of Vocal Nodule

Abstract

Background: Vocal cord nodules are one of the most frequent disorders in both children and adults who use their voice excessively. Main symptom with which patient presents is hoarseness of voice. The treatment in early stages is voice therapy. Various methods are used for its treatment e.g. surgical removal with cold instruments and carbon dioxide LASER ablation. Response to the treatment is measured by improvement in voice quality.
Objective: To compare the results of Carbon dioxide laser and cold instruments in the treatment of vocal nodule.
Study Design: Quasi-experimental study.
Place and Duration of Study: This study was conducted at Otolaryngology Department Combined Military Hospital Rawalpindi.
Patients and Methods: In this study 50 patients undergoing treatment of vocal cord nodule were included, 25 patients were treated by surgical removal with cold instruments and 25 patients were treated with carbon dioxide laser ablation. The main comparative outcomes were measured by patients’ perception of voice quality (worse, same, improved) one week post operatively.
Results: Improvement in voice quality with carbon dioxide laser was found to be clinically superior. Voice quality was significantly improved as compared to cold surgical instruments.
Conclusion: Carbon dioxide laser causes early improvement in quality of voice as compared to cold instruments in the treatment of vocal nodules.