Paradoxical vocal cord dysfunction: clinical experience and personal considerations

Paradoxical vocal cord dysfunction is a nosographic entity that remains to be fully elucidated as far as concerns criteria required for diagnosis and underlying aetiopathogenesis. The disorder manifests with repeated episodes of acute dyspnoea associated with a series of symptoms that may include hoarseness, globus, chest pain and "shortness of breath". A retrospective analysis of cases with acute dyspnoea referred to our Department between June 2004 and June 2005 revealed 3 patients with paradoxical vocal cord dysfunction. In 2 of these 3 cases, concomitant psychiatric morbidity was observed and the third also presented gastro-oesophageal reflux. In one patient, the episodes of dyspnoea were triggered by inspiration of irritating substances. Diagnosis of the condition requires a high level of suspicion, which is confirmed by a laryngoscopic investigation that demonstrates hyperadduction of the true vocal cords and a reduction of at least 50% in the breathing space. From a therapeutic point of view, patients with paradoxical vocal cord dysfunction require, in our opinion, a multidisciplinary approach; in fact, only a team comprising otorhinolaryngologists, phoniatricians, pulmonologists, neurologists, allergologists, psychotherapists and speech therapists is capable of defining the appropriate treatment according to the clinical and psychological characteristics of each individual patient. Our results with speech therapy, focused on respiratory and speech retraining, are reported.