[The size of the vocal folds in the children during the first years of life].

The objective of the present study was to determine the size of the vocal folds in the children during the first several years of life. The study included 137 children at the age from the birth up to 3 years who were referred to our clinic for the pre-planned surgical intervention with the use of endotracheal intubation. The length and the width of the vocal folds from the muscle tubercle to the anterior commissure in abduction were measured using a probe specially designed and adapted for this purpose. In all the cases, the endoscope was positioned at the same distance from the vocal folds. The fold length (ab) and width (cd) were expressed in millimeters. These parameters were measured in the following age groups of the patients: from the birth to 1 month 29 days (group 1), from 12 mo to 23 mo 29 d (group 2), from 24 mo to 35 mo 29 d (group 3), and above 36 months (group 4). The length and the width of the vocal folds varied from 2.6 mm to 7.8 mm and from 1.3 mm to 3.2 mm respectively. The length of the vocal folds increased at a rate of 1.025 mm per year showing marked variations within each age group, from the maximum value of 1.79 mm during the second year of life to the minimum of 0.48 mm during the fourth year. The authors conclude that these data may be of use for the improvement of the quality of the surgical treatment and subsequent rehabilitation of the respiratory and voice-generating functions of the larynx.