Office-Based Blue Laser Therapy and Steroid Injection of Hemorrhagic and Nonhemorrhagic Vocal Fold Polyp

To investigate the correlation between the morphology of vocal fold polyps, hemorrhagic versus nonhemorrhagic, and treatment outcome following office-based blue laser therapy with intralesional steroid injection.

All the medical records and video recordings of patients diagnosed with vocal fold polyps who underwent office-based blue laser therapy with intralesional steroid injection at a tertiary referral center between June 2023 and August 2025 were reviewed. Vocal fold polyps were classified as hemorrhagic versus nonhemorrhagic. The treatment outcome measures included the Voice Handicap Index-10 (VHI-10) score, acoustic parameters, maximum phonation time (MPT), and disease regression. The mean follow-up period was 12.79 ± 12.31 weeks.

A total of 29 patients with vocal fold polyps were included in the study. Twenty-one patients had hemorrhagic polyps, while the remaining had nonhemorrhagic polyps. No significant differences in the demographic variables were noted between the two subgroups. The mean VHI-10 score in the hemorrhagic polyp subgroup decreased by 10.2 ± 6.76 points, compared to 6.33 ± 7.14 points in the nonhemorrhagic subgroup (p = 0.208). There was a significant difference in complete disease regression between the hemorrhagic and nonhemorrhagic subgroups (95.2% vs. 62.5% p = 0.022). No significant differences were observed in any of the acoustic parameters between the two subgroups except for jitter (p = 0.017).

The results of this investigation indicate that hemorrhagic vocal fold polyps respond better to office-based blue laser therapy with intralesional steroid injection than nonhemorrhagic polyps.