Treatment Results of Vocal Process Granuloma: Intubation versus Contact Granuloma

Introduction  Contact granulomas (CGs) and intubation granulomas (IGs) are known to have different clinical manifestations despite having the same pathological features. Objective  The purpose of the present study was to analyze the treatment results for CG and IG and to obtain clinical information. Methods  We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of patients diagnosed with vocal process granuloma (VPG) between January 2015 and December 2018. The patient's age, sex, medical history, lesion size, lesion type, reflux finding score (RFS), response to treatment, duration of treatment, and follow-up period were compared. Results  Eighteen patients with CG and 14 patients with IG were included in the study. The IG group had more female patients ( p  = 0.0009), showed better response to proton pump inhibitor (PPI) and steroid inhalation (SI) ( p  = 0.036), and had a shorter treatment period ( p  = 0.0029) than the CG group. Five patients who received botulinum toxin injections in their vocal cords had complete remission. Conclusion  Compared with CG, IG was more responsive to treatment with PPI and SI and required a shorter duration of treatment.