The Etiology & Treatment of Unilateral Vocal Cord Paralysis : A 10-Year Review of 210 Patients

편측성대마비의 원인과 치료 : 10년간 경험의 분석

It is well known that unilateral vocal cord paralysis is a sign of a disease and not a disease entity. In an attempt to evalute incidence of unilateral vocal cord paralysis related to varoius causes and to analyze our treatment results, the records of 210 patients seen at the Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Yongdong Severance Hospital during the 10-year period from March 1985 to March 1995 were reviewed. Fifty-three patients(25.2%) of the 210 patients with unilateral vocal cord paralysis had surgery-related causes, and intubations including tracheostomy was the most common etilogy among them. One hundred and fifty seven cases(74.8%) was not related to surgery and, among these most common cause was idiopathic. Spontaneous recovery took place in 17(8%) patients. Phonosurgery including type Ⅰ thyroplasty(n=16) and arytenoid adduction(n=10) and combination of them(n=3) yielded good results except intrafold teflon injection(n=4). These results of our series were compared to other series reported over the past decades.