Evaluation of voice disorders in patients with active laryngeal tuberculosis

PLoS One. 2015 May 26;10(5):e0126876. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0126876. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

Introduction: Laryngeal tuberculosis (LTB) is the most frequent larynx granulomatous disease. In general there is lung involvement, but in an important proportion of cases you can find LTB without pulmonary disease. The lesions observed in LTB, such as ulceration and fibrosis, can interfere in the process of voice production. The involvement of the mucous lining of the vocal folds can change their flexibility and, consequently, change voice quality, and the main symptom is dysphonia present in almost 90% of cases.

Objective: To describe the anatomical characteristics and voice quality in LTB patients.

Material and method: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted with 24 patients.

Result: The most frequently affected sites were vocal folds in 87.5% patients, vestibular folds in 66.7%, epiglottis in 41.7%, arytenoid in 50%, aryepiglottic folds in 33.3%, and interarytenoid region in 33.3% patients. We found 95.8% cases of dysphonia. The voice acoustic analysis showed 58.3% cases of Jitter alterations, 83.3% of Shimmer and 70.8% of GNE.

Conclusion: Voice disorders found in active laryngeal tuberculosis are similar to those reported after clinical healing of the disease, suggesting that sequelae and vocal adjustments may install during the active phase of the disease, negatively impacting the process of vocal quality reestablishment.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Dysphonia
  • Female
  • Hoarseness
  • Humans
  • Laryngoscopes
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Tuberculosis, Laryngeal / complications*
  • Vocal Cords / microbiology
  • Vocal Cords / pathology
  • Vocal Cords / physiopathology
  • Voice Disorders / diagnosis*
  • Voice Disorders / etiology*
  • Voice Quality

Grants and funding

This work was funded by National Institute of Infectious Diseases (INI) (PA2010-2013)-FIOCRUZ, Papes VI/FIOCRUZ/Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) (407758/2012-7), and Carlos Chagas Filho Foundation for Research Support of Rio de Janeiro State (FAPERJ) (E- 26/102.183/2013), Brazil. CMVR is the recipient of fellowships from FAPERJ. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.