Hoarseness/Dysphonia

Hoarseness

Vocal cord tumors, swelling, reflux, or allergies can all result in hoarseness. A careful assessment of all of these factors is important to find a cure. We perform painless fiber-optic evaluation in the office to examine the vocal cords and direct the right treatment.

Hoarseness has one of two causes: an outside cause affecting the function of the larynx or functional cause occurs as the result of a behavior when behavior alters normal voice function.

• Laryngitis
• Acute: viral / bacterial
• Chronic: smoking / GERD
• Reactive Lesions
• Vocal cord nodules
• Vocal cord polyps
• Vocal fold cysts
• Neoplasm
• Premalignant: dysplasia, Laryngeal papillomatosis
• Malignant: Squamous cell carcinoma
• Trauma
• Surgery / intubation
• Accidental: blunt / penetrating / thermal

• Reinke's Edema (Mostly caused by smoking)

• Vocal abuse or misuse

Hoarseness is determined by using a variety of examination tools that allow the clinician to see the pattern of vibration of the vocal folds, principally laryngeal videostroboscopy. Flexible laryngoscopy is a tool sometimes used as the first step to rule out malignancy or any mass effect on the vocal cords.