Dr. Shigeru Hirano

Abstract:

Backgrounds: Oxidative stress is produced at the wound site, and excessive oxidative stress causes poor wound healing which can lead to dysfunction of the organ. The vocal fold is a vibratory mucosa in the voice box, and creates voice by high frequency vibration such as 100Hz to 800Hz. It can be injured by excessive voicing (vocal abuse), traume, and inflammation. It should be important to control oxidative stress during wound healing of the vocal fold to maintain the vibratory function keeping voice.

Materials and methods: Patients that underwent surgery to the vocal fold due to vocal fold lesions were enrolled in this study. They were seprated into 2 groups: a group treated by anti-oxidant, Twendee X, before and after the surgery (TWX group), and another group with no anti-oxidanta therapy (Control). Post-operative vocal functions were evaluated up to 3 months. The study was approved by institutional IRB.

Results: TWX group showed better vibratory properties with better phonatory function as compared to the control group.

Conclusion: TWX proved to be effective to improve wound healing of the vocal fold after surgery possibly due to reduction of post-operative oxidative stress.