Experts in voice treatment brought their experience to the table in a case-based panel discussion held during the Triological Society Combined Sections Meeting in January 2017, giving insight into their approaches to patient management and injection laryngoplasty.
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April 2017Transected Recurrent Laryngeal Nerve
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Michael Benninger, MD, chairman of the Head and Neck Institute at Cleveland Clinic, presented a case that involved a 24-year-old woman who had been thrown through a windshield in a car crash. She had developed a “fairly significant” keloid on her neck; she also had a lacerated jugular vein and a carotid artery tear. It was suspected that she had a transected recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN). Dr. Benninger said that her voice, while “not too bad,” was still something an otolaryngologist would want to help improve.
Panelists Albert Merati, MD, professor of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery at the University of Washington in Seattle, and Karen Kost, MD, FRCSC, associate professor of otolaryngology-head and neck cancer at McGill University in Montréal, said they would likely perform an office injection as their first step.