Literature Review: A Roundup of Important Recent Studies

Study design: Analysis of results from clinical consensus conferences, and video-perceptual analysis of a retrospective review of patients.

Setting: University of Pittsburgh Voice Center, Department of Otolaryngology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pennsylvania; Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio; Department of Otolaryngology, MCG Center for Voice and Swallowing Disorders, Georgia Health Sciences Health System, Augusta; University of California San Francisco; Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Synopsis: The authors used multidimensional definitions for each lesion and validated the paradigm developed at clinical consensus meetings by retrospectively applying it to a cohort of patients with BVFL using video-perceptual analysis. A perceptual analysis of vibratory properties of the mucosa on stroboscopy was performed. Additional criteria used included response to voice therapy and operative findings. The team provided nomenclature for nine distinct BVFLs: vocal fold nodules, vocal fold polyps, vocal fold cysts (subepithelial or ligament), vocal fold fibrous mass (subepithelial or ligament), reactive lesion, non-specific vocal fold lesions and pseudocysts.

Bottom line: The study presented a proposal for a clinically based, defined nomenclature paradigm for BVFL that applied multiple criteria.

Reference: Rosen CA, Gartner-Schmidt J, Hathaway B, et al. A nomenclature paradigm for benign midmembranous vocal fold lesions. Laryngoscope. 2012;122(6):1335-1341.

—Reviewed by Sue Pondrom