ABSTRACT
Objective To study the out come of coblation arytenoidectomy combined with true and false pos-terior cordectomy for treatment of bilateral vocal cord paralysis (BVFP) .Methods The group included 17 patients (8 incomplete BVFP and 9 complete BVFP) .All the patients had waited more than 6 months before surgery with no spontaneous recovery .The patients underwent arytenoidectomy combined with true and false posterior cordecto-my using coblation under video suspension laryngoscope .Electric fibrolaryngoscope was performed before and after operation to evaluate the size of the glottis .The patients'voices were recorded before and after operation and evalua-ted by 3 laryngologists through GRBAS .Results Preoperational laryngoscope showed that in the incomplete BVFP ,the vocal folds were close to the middle line with limited abduction .In the complete BVFP ,the vocal folds failed in adduction and abduction and the size of the glottis was 2 -3mm .3 of the patients had underwent tracheotomy . Post operational electric fibrolaryngoscope showed proximate triangulate breathing space which was more than 4mm in the posterior glottis .The patients were followed up 6 to 44months .15 of the 17 were allowed for decannulation . One patient among them underwent posterior cordectomy and arytenoidectomy on the contralateral side respectively after the first operation because of dyspnea owing to scar diathesis .Two patients bunged up the canula but did not de-cannulate .Among them one was a 8-year old boy diagnosed as congenital heart disease .One was thyroid cancer with stiff neck due to radiology .The only postoperative complication was the appearance of granulations in the operation region in 2 patients ,which were disappeared spontaneously .Quality of the voice improved in 2 patients ,unchanged in 10 and worsened in 5 .Conclusion This study demonstrates that arytenoidectomy associated with posterior cord-ectomy is a satisfactory surgical treatment of bilateral vocal fold paralysis because it leads to a considerable and stable enlargement of the breathing space and preserved the voice quality .