A Descriptive Study of Aetiology of Dysphonia in A Voice Clinic

Abstract

Background: Dysphonia is an alteration in normal voice quality due to structural and/or functional causes. It may result from benign or malignant organic pathology, functional disorders such as muscle tension dysphonia and puberphonia, or neurological conditions including unilateral vocal cord palsy and spasmodic dysphonia.

Method: This retrospective descriptive study included all patients presenting with dysphonia to the voice clinic at PRS Hospital, Thiruvananthapuram, during 2022. All patients underwent flexible fibreoptic laryngoscopic examination, often supplemented with stroboscopy or narrow-band imaging (NBI). Age, sex, and laryngoscopic diagnosis were analysed.

Results: Most patients were between the fourth and seventh decades of life, with the highest frequency in the 60–69-year age group, followed by the 40–49-year group. The male-to-female ratio was approximately 1.41:1. As a tertiary referral voice clinic, unilateral vocal cord palsy was the most common cause of dysphonia, followed by Type I muscle tension dysphonia and spasmodic dysphonia.

Conclusion: Dysphonia has a wide spectrum of causes ranging from unilateral vocal cord palsy and adductor spasmodic dysphonia to sulcus vocalis and submucous cleft palate. Thorough history-taking, clinical examination, and endoscopic evaluation using chip-on-tip flexible laryngoscopy are essential for accurate diagnosis of the underlying aetiology.