Lateral vocal fold injection of autogenous fat for vocal fold insufficiency

OBJECTIVE To study the efficacyof the lateral vocal fold injection of autogenous fat for vocal fold insufficiency. METHODS Twenty nine patients with vocal fold insufficiency were treated in our department with fat injection. Deep lateral vocal fold injection was performed through direct laryngoscope under general anesthesia. Fat was injected into the lateral aspect of the vocal fold (paraglottic space) using a special high pressure Brunning injector. The perceptual acoustic,phonatory function,and video laryngostroboscopy were evaluated before and after operation. RESULTS All the patients were followed up for 10 to 18 months. There were 24 patients with excellent results,2 patients with improvement, and 3 patients with no improvement. Phonatory function showed significant improvement(P0.01). Video laryngostroboscopy showed significant improvement of the glottic closure. The amplitude of vocal fold vibration and excursion of the mucosal wave were excellent. CONCLUSION Lateral vocal fold injection of autogenous fat was a useful and safe procedure for surgical correction of glottal incompetence due to vocal fold paralysis or atrophy. Bulking the vocal fold from medial to lateral,by injecting autogenous fat into the paraglottic space,allows to create the nearly closed glottic configuration and the vibratory surface is relative normal.