Endoscopic laser anterior commissurotomy for anterior glottic web: one-stage procedure

The conventional method for preventing web formation after anterior glottic web surgery is keel insertion. However, this presents risks of airway compromise and granulation tissue formation, which could necessitate tracheotomy in addition to a secondary procedure for keel removal. We introduce a novel, 1-stage endoscopic laser anterior commissurotomy for preventing anterior glottic web re-formation.

Twenty patients with glottic webs involving the anterior commissure were studied. The lesions were removed by transoral carbon dioxide laser microsurgery. In all patients, the anterior glottic web was vaporized along with the inner perichondrium of the thyroid cartilage over the anterior commissure area, creating a raw vertical break "alley" between the anterior vocal folds that measured between 0.3 and 0.5 cm in width and between 0.8 and 2 cm in length. The preoperative and postoperative vocal folds and voice quality were evaluated by videostrobolaryngoscopy and voice recordings.

All 20 patients had anterior glottic webs ranging from 11% to 64% of the length from the anterior commissure to the vocal process. None of the patients developed restenosis at the anterior commissure of a severity similar to that of the initial lesion during follow-up (mean, 13 months; range, 3 to 44 months).All patients except 1 reported satisfaction with their voice improvement. Outcome analysis revealed that partial re-formation of the web was noted in 4 patients.

One-stage, endoscopic laser anterior commissurotomy was effective and relatively safe for removing glottic webs, for preventing anterior glottic web re-formation, and for improving vocal fold performance among our patients.