Shigeru Hirano

Abstract:

The vocal fold is a vibratory mucosa essential for creating voice, but it is fragile after injury, and once it is scarred, voice becomes hoarse and harsh, which is difficult to recover. Regeneration of the mucosa after injury is important to avoid such dysphonia. Our previous research indicated that oxidative stress is one of the leading issues that causes scarring of the vocal fold, and anti-oxidant can preserve the tissue. The current clinical trial examined the effects of the strong anti-oxidant, Twendee X (TWX), on regeneration of the vocal fold after surgery.
Materials and Methods: Ten patients received surgery for vocal fold pathologies including polyp, leukoplakia, CIS, etc. They were randomly assigned to TWX group which were treated with TWX perioperatively and control group without TWX treatment. The vocal fold function after the surgery was assessed at 1 to 3 months using stroboscopy and acoustic parameters.
TWX group indicated significantly better vibratory parameters on stroboscopy at 1 month through 3 months as compared to the control group. TWX group also showed better GRBAS scale and loudness of the voice.
TWX was shown to be effective for better recovery of the vocal fold after surgery with less scarring.