Aetiopathological study of hoarseness of voice: a clinical study

Background: Hoarseness of voice is one of the widely found symptom in otolaryngological practice and is invariably the earlier manifestation of laryngeal involvement directly or deviously. The disease ranges from utterly benign to the most malignant and therefore a varying degree of connotation is attached to this. Present study is conducted to know the incidence, aetiopathological factors causing hoarseness of voice and its management. Methods: Present study is a prospective clinical study conducted in SVRRG Hospital, Tirupati from October 2008 to 2010 in all patients of both sexes with hoarseness of voice for more than 3 weeks duration were included. Hoarseness of voice due to congenital diseases, nose and nasopharyngeal pathology, oral and oropharyngeal pathology, CNS lesions were excluded from the study. All patients were subjected to detailed history, complete ENT examination, laryngoscopic examination, micro laryngeal excision or biopsy was taken to arrive the diagnosis and management was done accordingly. Results: Incidence of hoarseness of voice was 0.38% noted in our study. Most common age group affected are 4 th to 6 th decade with male to female ratio 2.5:1. Malignancy is the commonest cause, smoking and alcohol consumption were major etiological factors. Conclusions: In middle aged and elderly persons with hoarseness of voice more than 3 weeks duration should not be ignored and to be investigated further to rule out malignancy.