Abstract
Objectives
Autologous fat injection for unilateral vocal cord paralysis is a popular procedure for immediate symptoms control, but uneven long-term outcomes were reported. Most authors believed that the continual resorption of injected fat was the cause of voice degradation. A long-term residual fat volume was evaluated.
Methods
We retrospectively reviewed the patients following autologous fat injection for symptomatic unilateral vocal cord paralysis from 2002 Aug to 2006 July. The patients accepted head and neck computed tomogragphy (CT) evaluation following surgery were included. A three-dimensional reconstruction of the images of larynx and upper airway was performed on the work station (Vitrea® 2, version 3.9). The volume of intracordal fat was then calculated.
Results
5 males and 15 females of the mean age 49 were enrolled. The mean duration from lipoinjection surgery to the CT study is 23.0 months (12–50 months). The injection fat was found in all study cases. The estimated fat volume ranged from 0.01 to 0.75 ml with a mean 0.33 ml. Compare with the injected fat volume, a mean 27.5% fat survived. The correlation between residual fat volume rate and duration of follow-up is not significant.
Conclusions
The intracordal fat volume didn't decline from time. Long-term intracordal injected fat diminished but survived in all cases. The degradation may be caused by absorption or immediate extrusion from injection wound. An over-correction and prevention of extrusion postoperatively would improve the long-term outcomes.
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