Korean J Otorhinolaryngol-Head Neck Surg.  2018 Mar;61(3):143-147. 10.3342/kjorl-hns.2017.00766.

Reliability of Interference Pattern on Laryngeal Electromyography for Prediction of Prognosis of Vocal Fold Paralysis

• Moon KH
• Oh NR
• Baek MK
• Kim DY
• Woo JH

• KMID: 2436440
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3342/kjorl-hns.2017.00766

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
Laryngeal electromyography (LEMG) is valuable for the prognosis of vocal fold paralysis (VFP). However, there is a lack of reliable data to apply it to clinical practice. The aim of this study is to evaluate the reliability of interference pattern of LEMG in order to predict the prognosis of VFP by comparing interference pattern and vocal cord mobility.
SUBJECTS AND METHOD
A retrospective chart review was performed for patients who underwent LEMG from January 2012 to October 2015. Gender and age of patients, cause and treatment of VFP, vocal cord mobility, and result of LEMG were analyzed. The interference pattern of LEMG was used as a predictive marker of prognosis, which is compared with vocal cord mobility during the last follow-up.
RESULTS
Fifteen patients were enrolled in this study. Among them, five patients were predicted by LEMG evaluation to have good prognosis, and 10 patients were predicted to have poor prognosis. All of the five patients with good prognosis showed improvement in vocal cord mobility, while seven out of 10 patients predicted with bad prognosis showed vocal fold fixation at the last follow-up. The reliability of prognostic prediction through interference pattern was 80%.
CONCLUSION
Interference pattern of LEMG is reliable data to predict the prognosis of VFP, especially it showed perfect consistency for good prognosis.

Keyword

Electromyography; Interference; Prognosis; Vocal fold paralysis

MeSH Terms

Electromyography*
Follow-Up Studies
Humans
Methods
Paralysis*
Prognosis*
Retrospective Studies
Vocal Cords*