Clinical Application of Stromal Vascular Fraction Gel in Unilateral Vocal Fold Paralysis

To investigate the therapeutic effect of the stromal vascular fraction gel (SVF gel) in unilateral vocal fold paralysis.

A retrospective study was performed on 22 patients who underwent SVF gel autotransplantation for unilateral vocal fold paralysis between June 2017 and December 2018. Fat was removed from the medial thigh under anesthesia and the SVF gel was prepared using standard techniques and injected using a suspension microlaryngoscopy. The SVF gel was transplanted into the vocal fold muscle and the paraglottic space, and subjective and perceptual assessments, aerodynamic and acoustic assessments, and a videostroboscopic assessment were evaluated pre- and postoperatively at 1day, 12 months and 18 months.

The GRBAS evaluation results showed that the voice quality of the patients at 12 and 18 months after the operation was significantly improved, and voice analysis showed that in males maximum speech time (MPT) increased and the normalized noise energy decreased 1 day after surgery. The voice quality parameters at 12 months and 18 months after surgery improved significantly compared to preoperatively (P < 0.05), except for the fundamental frequency (F0), at 12 months, which was similar to the values before surgery. In females, the MPT and amplitude (shimmer) at 1 day after the surgery were significantly different from before the surgery, and the MPT, fundamental frequency (jitter), shimmer, and normalized noise energy at 12 months and 18 months after the surgery were significantly improved compared to before the surgery while the F0 was not significant.

SVF gel autotransplantation can effectively improve the voice quality in unilateral vocal fold paralysis, and the long-term effect is stable.