SURGICAL TREATMENT OF BILATERAL VOCAL CORD PARALYSIS IN CHILDREN

*Lidia Zawadzka-Głos

Summary
Aim: Unilateral or bilateral paralysis of the vocal cord is the second most common cause of stridor in neonates after laryngomalacia. Symptoms may be present at or shortly after birth, or they may be delayed in onset. The symptoms of unilateral paralysis include a hoarse cry and stridor on deep inspiration. Children with unilateral vocal cord paralysis will most commonly recover spontaneously or compensate. Children with bilateral paralysis will manifest upper airway problems. Symptoms vary from total obstruction to slight problems with exercise tolerance. If the obstruction of the airway is severe the patients will require tracheotomy. Failure of recovery of normal motion and function or failure of development of complete compensation with persistence of symptoms may necessitate surgical treatment of laryngeal paralysis.
Material and methods: In the Department of Paediatric ENT in Warsaw, between 1998 and 2008, 58 children with dyspnoea and voice disorders were admitted. Six patients aged from 1 to 14 years underwent lateral fixation of the vocal cord.
Results: We performed lateral fixation of vocal cords in 6 cases with good results.
Conclusions: Lateral fixation of the vocal cords is a safe and effective endoscopic technique. The procedure is easy to perform satisfactorily in children´s larynges.

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