Laryngeal dynamics and vocal fold tissue engineering in a rabbit model

Vocal fold surgery, especially due to cancer treatment, yields reduced voice quality and consequently reduced quality of life for patients. Hence, the development of vocal fold implants, to restore missing vocal fold tissue after surgery, is an urgent clinical need. To achieve this, a rabbit model is applied as a first step. Ex-vivo dynamic experiments were performed on twelve rabbit larynges providing normative phonatory data. The larynges were phonated at sustained phonation for different elongation levels at varying subglottal pressures. Laryngeal vibrations, airflow, and acoustics were recorded. Subsequently, for each larynx, a defined area of one vocal fold was resected, simulating the surgical intervention, and were phonated again with the same stimulations. The untreated larynges showed expected behavior regarding flow-pressure relation, acoustics and dynamics. In contrast, the phonatory quality of the resected larynges was significantly reduced showing, as expected, highly disturbed dynamics and a...