• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.89-96
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• 2022

Background and Objectives The quality of life after thyroidectomy, such as voice change, is considered to be as important as control of the disease. In this study, we aimed to evaluate changes in both subjective and objective voice parameters after thyroidectomy resulting in normal morbidity of the vocal cords. Materials and Method In this prospective cohort study, 204 patients who underwent thyroidectomy with or without central neck dissection at a single referral center from Feb 2015 to Aug 2016 were enrolled. All patients underwent prospective voice evaluations including both subjective and objective assessments preoperatively and then at 2 weeks, 3, 6, and 12 months postoperatively. Temporal changes of the voice parameters were analyzed. Results Values of the subjective assessment tool worsened during the early postoperative follow-up period and did not recover to the preoperative values at 12 months postoperatively. The maximal phonation time gradually decreased, whereas most objective parameters, including maximal vocal pitch (MVP), reached preoperative values at 3-6 months postoperatively. The initial decrease in MVP was significantly greater in patients undergoing total thyroidectomy, and their MVP recovery time was faster than that of patients undergoing lobectomy (p=0.001). Patients whose external branch of the superior laryngeal nerve was confirmed intact by electroidentification showed no difference in recovery speed compared with patients without electroindentification (p=0.102), although the initial decrease in MVP was lower with electroidentification. Conclusion Subjective assessment in voice quality and maximal phonation time after thyroidectomy did not show recovery to preoperative values. Aggravation of MVP was associated with surgical extent and electroidentification.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.29-34
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• 2009

Purpose: This study was designed to evaluate long-term results in terms of failure, survival and voice preservation after radiation therapy for early glottic cancer. Materials and Methods: From February 1988 to December 2003, 70 patients with early glottic cancer were treated with radiation therapy at Keimyung University Dongsan Medical Center. Patient age distribution was from 39 to 79 years, with a median age of 62 years. All patients had squamous cell carcinoma. According to the TNM stage, 58 patients had stage I disease, 12 patients had stage II disease; 67 patients were male. The laryngeal area was irradiated with the use of bilateral opposing fields with/without a wedge filter with 6 MV photons at a total dose of $54{\sim}70.2$ Gy in $1.8{\sim}2.2$ Gy fractions over $6{\sim}8$ weeks. We delivered a median radiation dose of 60 Gy for stage I patients and a median radiation dose of 66 Gy for stage II patients. Salvage surgery was performed in patients with local recurrence. The voice preservation rate was analyzed after all treatments including salvage surgery. Follow-up periods were from 13 to 180 months, with a median follow-up period of 77.5 months. The survival rate was analyzed by the use of the Kaplan Meier method and log rank test. A comparison of two groups was performed with the use of the chi-squared test. Results: The local control rate was 98.5% (69/70). The five-year-overall survival rate was 93.9%. The five-year disease free survival rate (5YDFS) was 84.1% and the 5YDFS after radiation and salvage surgery was 92.8%. According to stage, the 5YDFS was 93.1% and 91.7% for stage I and stage II respectively. Thirteen patients (18.5%) had local failure with 24 months of median time to local failure and nine patients received salvage surgery; however, four patients were lost to follow-up after a diagnosis of recurrence. Only two patients died due to a distant metastasis at 33 months and 71 months after radiation therapy, respectively. Nine patients died due to other diseases with a median time of 73 months. There were no severe acute or chronic complications after radiation therapy. Voice preservation was ultimately achieved in 88.5% (62/70) of patients. Conclusion: We considered that radiation therapy was effective and we achieved excellent survival and voice preservation in early laryngeal cancer. The use of radiation therapy should be the first choice for the treatment of early glottic cancer.

• Advances in pediatric surgery
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.44-51
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• 2009

This study is a retrospective analysis of 1244 cases of the inguinal hernia in children under the age of fifteen years who were operated at the department of pediatric surgery, Inje University Busan Paik Hospital from March, 1997 to February, 2007. The ratio of male to female was 3.6:1. The type of hernia was indirect in all of the cases. The hernia was on the right side in 656 cases (53.9 %), left side in 467 cases (37.5 %), and bilateral in 121 cases (9.7 %). The hernia presented most frequently in infants under age 12 months; 364 cases (29.2 %). Fifty-nine cases (21.7 %) were in female and 305 cases (31.3 %) in male. There were 428 cases (33.6 %) in 1-3 years age group, 295 cases (23.7 %) in 4-6 years, 112 cases (9.0 %) in 7-9 years, 39 cases (3.1 %) in 10-12 years and 16 (1.2 %) in 13-15 years. The content of hernia sac was small bowel (59 %), omentum (31 %) in males and the ovary and tube (54 %) and small bowel (26 %) in female. The incidence of combined operation at the time was 3.2 %, and consisting of orchiopexy (67.5 %), frenulotomy (12.5 %), appendectomy (10 %), circumcision (5 %), and fistulotomy (5%). The incidence of combined disease was 2.8 % and consisting of undescended testis, Hirschsprung's disease, idiopathic hypertrophic pyloric stenosis, imperforate anus, and congenital heart disease. After unilateral inguinal hernia repairs, contralateral hernias developed in 34 patients. The laterality of the primary site of hernias were left in 19 cases (55.8 %), and right 15 cases (44.1 %). The 936 cases (75.2 %) were operated under general anesthesia; Mask bagging 663 cases (53.2 %), endotrachea intubation 257 cases (20.6 %), and laryngeal mask 16 cases (1.2 %). The remainder 308 cases (24.7 %) were operated under regional caudal anesthesia.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.138-142
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• 2006

Objectives : Vocal cord paralysis(VCP) is a complex disorder which may result from numerous causes. We reviewed and analyzed the trend of clinical characteristics and causes of VCP in Korean patient. Method : A total 197 patients with VCP who visited St.Mary's hospital from March, 2000 to August, 2006 were reviewed retrospectively. They were analyzed according to sex, age, cause of VCP, position of paralyzed vocal fold, treatment methods. Results : The male and female ratio was 1.6 : 1. The unilateral paralyzed vocal fold was fixed at paramedian position in 84% of the cases. The left vocal fold was paralyzed about 2 1/2 times as much as the right vocal fold. Among the causes of VCP 30.9% of the cases were due to postoperative paralysis, and most of those were developed after lung, mediastinal surgery. laryngeal EMG was performed in 47 patients for determines the prognosis and treatment method. In the unilateral VCP, 90 patients were treated with injection laryngoplasty, 21 patients were performed thyroplasty type I. Conclusion : The causes of VCP include various diseases, so, detection of the primary disease is very important, because many fatal diseases are included among the primary diseases, and late detection can cause serious problems. VCP is not only a disease entity in itself, but can be seen as a sign of an underlying disease.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.47-51
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• 2009

Background and Objectives: Intracordal cysts may occur secondary to voice abuse and overuse or may be secondary to a remnant of epithelium trapped within the lamina propria. They may occur spontaneously or may be associated with poor vocal hygiene. As the cyst enlarges it can start to significantly affect the vibratory region of the vocal fold. With the advancement of the microsurgical technique and the laryngeal stroboscopy, correct diagnosis of intracordal cyst have been increased. The aims of this study is to review the important clinical characteristics of the intracordal cyst. Materials and Methods: In the present study, 212 cases of the intracordal cysts were treated by the microsurgical technique. These lesions were diagnosed before the operation with indirect laryngoscopy, laryngeal endoscopy, laryngeal stroboscopy and confirmed with the findings observed during operations and the results of the biopsies. Results : The intracordal cysts were 212 cases in the 4,20 I patients who underwent laryngeal microsurgery (5.04%). Ductal cysts were 156 cases and epidermoid cysts were 56 cases. The lesions are more frequent in women and anterior third of true vocal cord is more frequently involved site. With the preoperative laryngoscopic examination, the intracordal cysts were mostly misdiagnosed as other disease of the vocal cord such as vocal polyps or nodules. And main cause of intracordal cysts was thought of vocal abuse. From view of the surgical approach, Ductal cysts was difficult to remove completely than epidermoid cyst without cystic wall rupture. Conclusion : Intracordal cysts are very similar to the other mucosal disorders of the vocal cord and it may be misdiagnosed as vocal polyps or nodules, frequently. Therefore careful preoperative examinations for the vocal cord lesions with stroboscopy and other endoscopic instruments are important part of the correct diagnosis. An ideal treatment is enucleation of the cysts without rupture of the cystic wall or injury of the lamina propria. And marsupialization is meaningful to ductal cyst that cannot be enucleated completely.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.27-30
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• 2014

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to investigate the endoscopic evidence of esophagitis in laryngopharyngeal reflux disease (LPRD) patients using transnasal esophagoscopy (TNE) and to correlate these findings with treatment response. Methods : Fifty patients underwent TNE at Korea University Anam Hospital from July 2007 to Feb 2009. Participants were selected from patients that presented with various laryngeal symptoms. One experienced otolaryngologist assessed esophagitis according to the Los Angeles classification system using the TNE findings. Results : Fifteen of 50 LPR patients (30%) were found to have esophagitis (12 patients with Grade A, 3 patients with Grade B, no patients with grade C/ D esophagitis). Among the 15 patients positive for esophagitis based on the endoscopic findings, 12 (80%) showed symptom improvement after pharmacological therapy. Symptom improvement was correlated with evidence of esophagitis (p=0.002) but not with RFS (p=0.749). Conclusion : Endoscopic evaluation of esophagitis using TNE is a potentially valuable tool for predicting treatment response in LPRD patients.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.219-222
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• 2002

Malignant glomus tumor is a very rare disease originating from the paraganglia system through the body. Glomus tumor, also known as paraganglioma, usually are considered benign, and arises in a variety of head and neck locations, most of which include the carotid body, the vagus nerve, and the jugulotympanic area. The most widely accepted management of benign glomus tumor is surgical extiration. Here, we report a case of recurrent laryngeal glomus tumor which is proven malignant and metastatic to the brain and the lungs. We have treated the patient with combination chemotherapy and radiation to the brain, the result of which is partial response in terms of decreased size of metastatic lung lesions.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.87-94
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• 1985

A total of eighty five cases with supraglottic carcinoma treated by radical radiotherapy in Yonsei Cancer Center between Jan. 1974 and Dec. 1980, was observed through retrospective analysis. This study is concerned wi th patients selection for irradiation alone or combined treatment with surgery. Emphasis is directed to the analysis of effectiveness of radical radiotherapy instead of partial laryngectomy in T-1, T-2 and early T-3 lesion. A satisfactory control of laryngeal disease and preservation of a normal voice ranging from 100% for $T_1N_0$ lesions, 61.1% for $T_2N_0$ to 50% for $T_3N_0$. But 47.1% of cases with node metastasis on admission had poor results to irradiation suggesting of necessicity of combined treatment. 5 year recurrence-free survivals was 43.3% in all cases with supraglottic carcinoma treated by irradiation alone, although it was 87.5% in T-1 and 51.8% in T-2.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.164-172
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• 2002

The role of botulinum toxin as a therapeutic agent is expanding rapidly in otolaryngology. Botulinum toxin is a protease that blocks the release of acetylcholine from nerve terminals. Its effects are transient and nondestructive, and largely limited to the area in which it is administered These effects are also graded according to the dose, allowing for individualized treatment of patients and disorders. Botulinum toxin has been used primarily to treat disorders of excessive or inappropriate muscle contraction. In the field of otolaryngology, these include spasmodic dysphonia, oromandibular dystonia, and blepharospasm, vocal tics and stuttering, cricopharyngeal achalasia, various tremors and tics, hemifacial spasm, temporomandibular joint disorders and a number of cosmetic applications. Botulinum toxin treatment has recently begun to show some benefit in the control of pain from migraine and tension headache. It may also prove useful in the control of autonomic dysfunction, as in Frey syndrome, sialorrhea, and rhinorrhea. In over 20 yews of use in humans, botulinum toxin has accumulated a considerable safety record, and in many cases represents relief for thousands of patients unaided by other therapy.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.9-13
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• 2018

Postoperative airway aspiration is not uncommon in patients with head and neck cancer. Airway aspiration has serious consequences, such as swallowing disorders, nutrition-related health problem, or reducing the quality of life due to maintenance of tracheal or nasogastric tubes. The postoperative oropharyngeal defect due to the surgery may interfere with normal swallowing reflex, or the laryngeal dysfunction caused by radiation therapy may cause severe airway aspiration, which may lead to complications such as dyspnea and pneumonia. Complete removal of the disease is also important in the treatment of head and neck cancer, but it is necessary to select a method to avoid and predict the occurrence of airway aspiration according to the treatment method. The most important factor to prevent airway aspiration after surgery is to preserve the proper volume of the oropharynx and to preserve at least one of the cricoarytenoid joint function. It is also the most effective way to reduce additional complications by seeking appropriate surgical treatment according to airway aspiration status. The purpose of this study is to review the operative methods that can induce airway aspiration and consider the prevention and treatment strategy through review of the literature.