Long-Term Outcomes of Pediatric Laryngeal Reinnervation

Pediatric nonselective laryngeal reinnervation (NSLR) has gained popularity in recent years; however, long-term outcomes have not been reported.

Patients greater than 1 year post reinnervation were recruited. Families were asked to report Pediatric Voice-Related Quality of Life (PVRQOL) and provide an audio recording of connected speech. PVRQOL and voice measures were compared with preoperative and early postoperative outcomes (<12 months) using analysis of variance (ANOVA) for repeated measures and post hoc tests for linear trend.

Sixty-six patient families were contacted. Twelve patients responded with PVRQOL; six (50%) were female. Median age at surgery was 6.4 (range 1.9-15) and at follow-up 13.5 (range 10-18), with a median of 6.8 years (range 3-9.1) since surgery at follow-up. Mean preoperative PVRQOL was 68.1 (95% CI 52.3-84.0), early postoperative 86.5 (73.2-99.7), and long-term 90 (82.7-97.3). ANOVA showed no significant difference between values (p = 0.1228), but post hoc testing showed improving outcomes over time (p-for-trend 0.0304). PVRQOL was stable between early postoperative and long-term values (p = 0.3399). Four voice samples were adequate for analysis. Mean preoperative cepstral peak prominence (CPP) was 5.2 (95% CI 3.4-7.0), early postoperative 8.5 (5.5-11.5), and long-term 6.8 (2.77-10.89, p = 0.3340, p-for-trend 0.2988) Low-to-high spectral ratio was 22.3 preoperatively (14.0-30.5), 23.0 early postoperative (17.4-28.7), and 28.8 long-term (17.4-40.2, p = 0.1174, p-for-trend 0.0364). Cepstral spectral index of dysphonia (CSID) was 83.0 preoperatively (44.1-121.8), 39.4 early postoperative (20.4-58.3), and 45.53 long-term (-0.05-91.1, p = 0.4457, p-for-trend 0.1464).

Years after NSLR, PVRQOL, low-to-high spectral ratio, and CSID show no evidence of degradation over time.

4 Laryngoscope, 134:5006-5009, 2024.