Patient-controlled comparison of flexible endoscopic evaluation of swallowing with sensory testing (FEESST) and videofluoroscopy.

Objective: The objective of this study was to compare the results of videofluoroscopy (VFS) with flexible endoscopic evaluation of swallowing with sensory testing (FEESST) in dysphagia testing.

Methods: The authors conducted a retrospective review of data collected over a 4-year period at a tertiary care medical center. The FEESST and VFS results for patients receiving both examinations within a 2-week period were compared with respect to swallowing function.

Flexible endoscopic evaluation of swallowing with sensory testing in patients with unilateral vocal fold immobility: incidence and pathophysiology of aspiration.

Objectives/hypothesis: The objective was to examine the incidence and pathophysiology of aspiration in patients with unilateral vocal fold immobility presenting with dysphagia.

Study Design: Retrospective review of flexible endoscopic evaluation of swallowing with sensory testing (FEESST) data and medical records in two tertiary medical care centers.

Methods: The data for all patients with unilateral vocal fold immobility who underwent FEESST between 2000 and 2003 were reviewed.

Hypopharyngeal perforation near-miss during transesophageal echocardiography.

Objectives/hypothesis: The traditional blind passage of a transesophageal echocardiography probe transorally through the hypopharynx is considered safe. Yet, severe hypopharyngeal complications during transesophageal echocardiography at several institutions led the authors to investigate whether traditional probe passage results in a greater incidence of hypopharyngeal injuries when compared with probe passage under direct visualization.

Study Design: Randomized, prospective clinical study.

Phonomicrosurgery in singers and performing artists: treatment outcomes, management theories, and future directions.

Phonomicrosurgery in performing artists has historically been approached with great trepidation, and vocal outcome data are sparse. The vocal liability of surgically disturbing the superficial lamina propria (SLP) and epithelium must be balanced with the inherent detrimental vocal effect of the lesion(s). A prospective investigation was performed on 185 performing artists who underwent phonomicrosurgical resection of 365 lesions: 201 nodules, 71 polyps, 66 varices and ectasias, 13 cysts, 8 keratotic lesions, 2 granulomas, 2 Reinke's edema, and 2 papillomas.

Endolaryngeal microsurgery at the anterior glottal commissure: controversies and observations.

There are a number of tenets regarding endolaryngeal microsurgical management of disease that involves and/or encroaches upon the anterior glottal commissure (AGC). They include avoidance of 1) bilateral epithelial incisions near the AGC, 2) removal of papillomatosis in the AGC, and 3) resection of bilateral keratosis with atypia or carcinoma at the AGC. During the last 6 years, 115 patients underwent microsurgical management of disease at the AGC: carcinoma in 20 (T1 in 15 and T2 in 5), keratosis in 41, papillomatosis in 20, and polypoid corditis (Reinke's edema) in 34.