[Endolaryngeal lipoaugmentation of the vocal cords]

Unilateral vocal cord paralysis or the loss of vocal cord tissue results in incomplete glottic closure (internal-paresis) with a consequent hoarseness and poor voice quality. Improving glottic incompetence, instead of the previously used paraffin, teflon is a widely accepted and most commonly used substance at present for vocal cord medialization. Using intracordal teflon injection of for decades had proven that it has limitations and potential complications to the human body. Beside the well-known external "phono-surgical" methods, a wide interest has been shown in endolaryngeal phono-surgery and in finding the ideal and most available biocompatible substances for the procedure. Papers have been issued about the promising results of autologus fat injection for medialization of the paralyzed vocal fold in the early '90s. In this paper the authors report on their slightly modified endolaryngeal intracordal autologus fat injection procedure, and its promising results. The first three patients (a left side glottic paralysis, a bilateral internal paresis and a left side internal paresis) experienced an improvement in their voice right after the medialization procedure, what remained the same during the 11 months follow-up period. Using supraglottic jet ventilation during general anaesthesia provides very good access to the operating field. Monitoring of neuro-muscular block makes possible an intraoperative examination of glottic closure by the protective reflex of the larynx. Incouraged by this initial results the authors suggest the autologus fat as an easy available, ideal substance for increasing (augmenting) the loss of vocal cord tissue.