Project description:ObjectivesReinke's edema is a chronic disease of the respiratory tract that occurs in adults with a history of chronic smoke exposure. Also known as polypoid corditis, polypoid laryngitis, and polypoid degeneration of the vocal fold, it is strongly associated with smoking, frequently with vocal misuse/abuse, and occasionally with laryngopharyngeal reflux. Reinke's edema remains a cause of chronic dysphonia that is difficult to manage. This review provides perspectives on current and future management of Reinke's edema.ResultsReinke's edema impacts <1% of the population. The excessive mass is seen in polypoid degeneration results in a loss of pitch control and a rough voice. Women are more likely to present for treatment as the characteristic lowering of vocal pitch is more noticeable in women than men. Multiple grading systems have been proposed within the literature. The current standard of care is surgical excision, after smoking cessation. The microflap technique remains the approach of choice for bulky lesions. Surgical management of Reinke's edema has evolved with the introduction of various lasers into otolaryngologic practice; some which can now be used in the office setting. While many management approaches have been described within the literature, there is a little direct comparison and no obvious superior method of Reinke's edema management.ConclusionTo date, the biology of Reinke's edema is not well understood. Additional research is needed further elucidate the role of uncontrolled reflux in the development and recurrence of Reinke's edema.
Project description:IntroductionWith the increasing use of intravitreal administration of corticosteroids in macular edema, steroid-induced intraocular pressure (IOP) rise is becoming an emergent issue. However, for patients in whom intravitreal steroids are indicated, there are no specific recommendations for IOP monitoring and management after intravitreal administration of corticosteroids.MethodAn expert panel of European ophthalmologists reviewed evidence on corticosteroid-induced IOP elevation. The objective of the panel was to propose an algorithm based on available literature and their own experience for the monitoring and management of corticosteroid-induced IOP elevation, with a focus on diabetic patients.ResultsData from trials including diabetic patients with a rise of IOP after intravitreal steroid administration indicate that IOP-lowering medical treatment is sufficient for a large majority of patients; only a small percentage underwent laser trabeculoplasty or filtering filtration surgery. A 2-step algorithm is proposed that is based on the basal value of IOP and evidence for glaucoma. The first step is a risk stratification before treatment. Patients normotensive at baseline (IOP ≤ 21 mmHg), do not require additional baseline diagnostic tests. However, patients with baseline ocular hypertension (OHT) (IOP > 21 mmHg) should undergo baseline imaging and visual field testing. The second step describes monitoring and treatment after steroid administration. During follow-up, patients developing OHT should have baseline and periodical imaging and visual field testing; IOP-lowering treatment is proposed only if IOP is >25 mmHg or if diagnostic tests suggest developing glaucoma.ConclusionThe management and follow-up of OHT following intravitreal corticosteroid injection is similar to that of primary OHT. If OHT develops, IOP is controlled in a large proportion of patients with standard IOP treatments. The present algorithm was developed to assist ophthalmologists with guiding principles in the management of corticosteroid-induced IOP elevation.FundingAlimera Sciences Limited.
Project description:Steroids are used for specific indications in the perioperative period to reduce laryngeal or spinal cord edema, or for prophylaxis and treatment of postoperative nausea and vomiting. Given the other potential causes for hemodynamic alterations in the perioperative setting, it is important for physicians to be aware of cardiovascular side effects of short term steroids. Changes in blood pressure and heart rate, cardiac dysrhythmias, and even death have been described in patients receiving short term intravenous steroids. Bradycardia has been reported following short term methylprednisolone and dexamethasone therapy in both adult and pediatric patients. There are only two case reports in the literature of bradycardia following short term intravenous dexamethasone use in adult patients. This is the first case report that describes bradycardia following the use of dexamethasone in the postoperative setting for management of laryngeal edema in an adult. Telemetry and twelve lead electrocardiograms revealed sinus bradycardia and correlated directly with administration of dexamethasone in our patient. Bradycardia resolved following discontinuation of dexamethasone. We advocate for hemodynamic monitoring in patients receiving more than one dose of intravenous steroid therapy in the perioperative period, especially those with known cardiac and hepatic comorbidities and those taking medications with negative chronotropic effects.
Project description:Systematic review of literature on patient-reported voice handicap following T1 glottic squamous cell carcinoma treatment using transoral laser microsurgery or radiation therapy.PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus (1997-2013).These data sources were searched for papers reporting Voice Handicap Index (VHI) after treatment of early glottic carcinoma. Review and reference cross-checking were performed using a priori selection criteria. Study data were abstracted and publication quality categorized independently by 2 authors. Corresponding authors were contacted to maximize data for analysis. Meta-analysis was performed only with studies that included both treatment modalities, to reduce heterogeneity and maximize rigor; random effects modeling was used to pool results.Eighteen publications were identified that reported VHI data following surgery and radiotherapy for T1 glottic carcinoma. No studies were randomized. When studies that reported multiple T-stages or systematic treatment selection bias were excluded, 8 retrospective cohort studies describing 362 patients were suitable for meta-analysis. Follow-up time (mean, 47 months; range, 1-298 mo) and extent of surgical excision varied across studies. Six studies showed no VHI difference between treatment arms; 2 favored radiotherapy over surgery (1 of which reported transmuscular cordectomy for all surgical patients); and none favored surgery. Meta-analysis showed no significant difference in posttreatment VHI between radiotherapy and surgery (mean difference, -5.52; 95% confidence interval, -11.40, 0.36; heterogeneity I (2) = 61%, P = .01).VHI scores were comparable following transoral laser microsurgery and radiation therapy for T1 glottic carcinoma in the current literature, suggesting no clinically significant difference in functional voice outcomes between treatment types.
Project description:While it is well-known that adjunctive corticosteroid use improves the outcome of moderate-to-severe Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (PcP) in patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), there are limited data on its efficacy in non-HIV-infected patients with PcP. Patients undergoing fiber-optic bronchoscopy with bronchoalveolar lavage for suspected PcP from January 2007 through December 2010 were reviewed retrospectively. We compared demographics, clinical characteristics, and outcomes in 88 non-HIV-infected patients with moderate-to-severe PcP with (n = 59) and without (n = 29) adjunctive corticosteroid use. Outcomes of PcP were assessed by respiratory failure and 30-day and 90-day all-cause mortality. Survival curves were analyzed by the Kaplan-Meier method and estimated by the log rank test. All-cause mortality of moderate-to-severe PcP at 90 days was lower in the solid-organ transplant recipients than in all other patients (6/26 [23%] versus 34/62 [55%], respectively; P = 0.006), and mortality at 30 days was lower in patients with hematologic malignancies than in all other patients (4/26 [15%] versus 24/62 [39%], respectively; P = 0.03). The outcomes of PcP were not significantly different in moderate-to-severe PcP patients with and without adjunctive corticosteroid use, regardless of recent corticosteroid use. Survival analysis of PcP patients with and without corticosteroid use by the Kaplan-Meier method also did not reveal any difference (log rank test; P = 0.81). There again was no difference within the subgroup of PcP patients with solid-organ transplants. Adjunctive corticosteroid use may not improve the outcome of moderate-to-severe PcP in non-HIV-infected patients.
Project description:BackgroundThis study aims to investigate the clinical efficacy of transoral laser microsurgery and open partial laryngectomy (OPL) in treating T1-2 laryngeal cancer.MethodsA retrospective analysis was conducted of 182 patients with T1-2 cancer with anterior vocal commissure (AVC) involvement. The local control (LC), disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) rates at 5-year follow-up and the influencing factors were analyzed.ResultsNo significant difference was observed in the LC or DFS rates between the two groups at 3- and 5-year follow-up. No significant difference was found between the two groups with T1-stage disease. The 5-year LC rates were significantly different from patients with grade 3 or 4 tumors on indirect laryngoscopy and patients with class III or IV tumors on the modified Mallampati test (MMT) (log-rank test: χ2=8.037, P=0.005). The 3-year LC rate of OPL in the depth of pathological infiltration (3-5 mm) group was found to be significantly higher than that of TLM. Significant differences in pathological infiltration depth (3-5 mm) existed between the two groups (log-rank test: χ2=5.786, P=0.016).ConclusionsT1 lesions are generally limited and superficial, and laser surgery can be well-controlled. For patients with difficult airway exposure, surgeons should have extensive surgical experience and skills. It is recommended that a variety of equipment should be ready so that surgeons can convert to open surgery at any time. For patients with a deep infiltration depth, surgeons should examine laryngoscopy imaging results before surgery.
Project description:ObjectiveThis study aimed to assess the utility of laryngeal high-speed videoendoscopy (HSV) as a clinical tool.DesignThis is a prospective study of 151 patients.MethodsA total of 151 adult patients (52 male, 99 female) underwent both videoendoscopy with stroboscopy (videostroboscopy) and HSV examination as part of a routine clinical voice assessment. At the time of the examination, ratings for videostroboscopy were reported in the clinical report. Next, the clinicians reviewed the HSV examination and indicated the changes in ratings of HSV relative to videostroboscopy. Finally, the clinical reports were reviewed by a clinician not involved in data collection or clinical care of the patients and noted differences between videostroboscopy and HSV clinical ratings, and resulting diagnoses were identified and grouped.ResultsRatings of all vibratory features showed change between videostroboscopy and HSV. Mucosal wave and amplitude of vibration showed the largest percentage change, respectively, in 74% and 53% of the reports. They were followed by the features of glottal closure (36%), phase closure (32%), glottal edge (25%), and phase symmetry (21%). Ratings of supraglottic compression and vocal fold vertical level showed the least change between videostroboscopy and HSV. Changes in initial diagnosis owing to the inclusion of HSV were indicated in 7% of the cases.ConclusionsHSV may be an important laryngeal imaging technique for functional assessment of the pathophysiology of certain voice disorders. HSV could enable important refinements in the diagnosis and management of vocal fold pathology.
Project description:Pigs have become important animal models in voice research. Several objective parameters exist to characterize the pig voice, but it is not clear which of them are sensitive to the impaired voice quality after laryngeal injury or surgery. In order to conduct meaningful voice research in pigs, it is critical to have standard functional voice outcome measures that can distinguish between normal and impaired voices. For this reason, we investigated 17 acoustic parameters before and early after surgery in three Yucatan mini pigs. Four parameters showed consistent changes between pre- and post-surgery recordings, mostly related to decreased spectral energy in higher frequencies after surgery. We recommend two of these, 50% spectral energy quartile (Q50) and Flux, for objective functional voice assessment of pigs undergoing laryngeal surgery. The long-term goal of this process is to enable quantitative voice outcome tracking of laryngeal surgical interventions in porcine models.
Project description:The purpose of this study was to investigate the incidence of secondary epiretinal membrane (ERM) after intravitreal injection and the effect of ERM on visual acuity and central macular thickness (CMT) in patients with diabetic macular edema (DME). We included 147 eyes of 95 patients over 18 years old who were diagnosed with DME from 2012 to 2016, treated with intravitreal injection, and followed-up more than 24 months. Mean CMT in the ERM group was significantly thicker than in the non-ERM group after 9, 12, 18, and 24 months. Secondary ERM developed in 9.5% of patients during follow-up. Compared to other agents, the incidence of secondary ERM was significantly higher after intravitreal injection of dexamethasone implant. Among patients in the ERM group, the mean decrease of CMT between pre-injection and 2 weeks post-injection was significantly less after secondary ERM formation than before ERM formation. Secondary ERM formation was significantly associated with the number of intravitreal injections and the use of dexamethasone implant. Therefore, secondary ERM develops more frequently as the number of intravitreal injections increases and after intravitreal dexamethasone implant injection. The therapeutic effects of intravitreal injections for DME patients decrease after secondary ERM formation.
Project description:The present study was conducted to test the hypothesis that intrinsic laryngeal muscles are involved in producing voice fundamental frequency (F(0)) responses to perturbations in voice pitch auditory feedback. Electromyography (EMG) recordings of the cricothyroid and thyroarytenoid muscles were made with hooked-wire electrodes, while subjects sustained vowel phonations at three different voice F(0) levels (conversational, high pitch in head register, and falsetto register) and received randomized pitch shifts (±100 or ±300 cents) in their voice auditory feedback. The median latencies from stimulus onset to the peak in the EMG and voice F(0) responses were 167 and 224 ms, respectively. Among the three different F(0) levels, the falsetto register produced compensatory EMG responses that occurred prior to vocal responses and increased along with rising voice F(0) responses and decreased for falling F(0) responses. For the conversational and high voice levels, the EMG response timing was more variable than in the falsetto voice, and changes in EMG activity with relevance to the vocal responses did not follow the consistent trend observed in the falsetto condition. The data from the falsetto condition suggest that both the cricothyroid and thyroarytenoid muscles are involved in generating the compensatory vocal responses to pitch-shifted voice feedback.