• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.47-50
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• 2003

The transgender is who has persistent discomfort with his of her sex or sense of inappropriateness in the gender role of that sex. Many transgenders have been undergone trans-sex operations after 1980's. But there were not so much experience of voice surgery for transgenders. Vocal pitch can be elevated by various surgical techniques. Type IV thryoplasty, which one of the cricothyroid approximation methods, increases tension to the vocal folds, thus increasing fundamental frequency and upper pitch range. We treated a transgender (MTF, Male to female) using this technique. Acoustic and aerodynamic measures were obtained both pre- and post-operatively. Clinically significant improvement was achieved in both study; increasing of vocal pitch, widening of pitch range, and improvement of vocal efficiency.

• Proceedings of the KOR-BRONCHOESO Conference
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• 1982.05a
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• pp.10.1-10
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• 1982

The use of phonosurgery in the recent development of laryngomicrosurgery has enabled the restoration of a normal voice in respect to functional laryngeal surgery which in Korea in the past limited to simple removal of benign laryngeal tumor such as laryngeal polyp or nodules and cordal injection of $Teflon^{{\circledR}}$ for the treatment of recurrent nerve paralysis under the vision of suspension laryngoscopy. Performance of phonosurgery for the treatment of cord paralysis, mutational dysphonia, vocal cord atrophy, hyperkinetic dysphonia and sulcus vocalis is a happy event in the view point of development of phonosurgery in Korea. In this aspect thyroplasty to change the position and physical characteristics of the cord outside the glottis instead of the direct handling of the vocal cord through direct endoscopy is popular. Among the 4 types of thyroplasty, classified by Insshiki(1974), type I thyroplasty(1ateral compression of vocal cord) and type IV thyroplasty(lengthening of vocal cord) were effective in the treatment of unilateral vocal cord paralysis. Advantages of this operation are the fine adjustment of the degree of lateral compression under local anesthesia according to the phonation of the patient during operation and avoidance of dyspnea and intralaryngeal hemorrhage due to the manipulation outside the internal perichondrium of the thyroid cartilage. We did 7 cases of thyroplasty for the treatment of unilateral vocal cord paralysis in the 7 months from September 1981 to March 1982. Before the operation aerodynamic study, psychoacoustical evaluation, stroboscopy and sound spectrographic analysis were done. Two months after the operation the above procedures were performed again. Results of preoperative and postoperative examination were compared and the following results were obtained. 1) In the aerodynamic study, maximum phonation time increased to 158% of the preoperative value and the phonation quotient and the mean flow rate decreased to 58% and 54% of preoperative values. 2) The degree of hoarseness improved in the psychoacoustical evaluation and the glottic chink during phonation was decreased in the stroboscopic examiantion. 3) In the sound spectrographic analysis, periodicity was much restored and noise distribution decreased especially in the high frequency area.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.11-15
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• 2008

Endoscopic laser cordectomy is known as an oncologically sound procedure for T1 and selected T2 glottic carcinoma ; it has comparable local control rate and better long-term laryngeal preservation rate when compared with those of radiotherapy. Even if results of the reported voice outcome studies after surgery or radiotherapy are diverse and controversial, resection deeper than the body layer of the vocal fold (type III, IV, V cordectomy) usually leads to aerodynamic insufficiency during phonation and results in poor voice quality. A keyhole defect or development of synechiae at the anterior commissure after type VI cordecomy may also result in unsatisfactory vocal outcome. However, many advances in phonosurgical techniques are reported to be successfully applied in the reconstruction of glottal defect that is subsequent to endoscopic laser cordectomy. In case of glottal insufficiency, voice restoration can be achieved by means of augmentation of the paraglottic space or medialization of the excavated vocal fold. Injection laryngoplasty with synthetic materials or autologous fat is gaining its popularity for restoring minor glottal volume defect because of its convenience. Laryngeal framework surgery, especially type I thyroplasty with premade implant systems or Gore-Tex, is most frequently used to correct larger glottic volume defect. In case of anterior commissural keyhole defect, additional procedure including laryngofissure may be required. For anterior commissural synechiae, laryngeal keel may be inserted for several weeks or mitomycin-C may be repeatedly applied after the division of adhesive scar to prevent restenosis. In this paper, current concepts and the authors' experiences of phonosurgical reconstruction of vocal function after endoscopic cordectomy will be introduced.