Prospective study to assess vocal cord palsy investigations¹

Abstract

CT neck +/- chest plays an important role in the evaluation of VCP patients. The majority of pertinent radiologic findings involve malignant neoplasm.

Ascending aortic aneurysm causing hoarse voice: a variant of Ortner's syndrome: Figure 1

“…In previous case series of extralaryngeal vocal cord palsy investigated by CT, only 1/33,2 1/623 and 1/1154 cases were due to a cardiovascular cause. The most common cause of recurrent laryngeal nerve palsy in these series was superior mediastinal lymphadenopathy, most commonly due to malignancy.…”

Imaging strategies for investigating unilateral vocal cord palsy: how we do it

“…In our survey, a small number of clinicians use plain films and ultrasound but always in conjunction with CT scanning. Plain films of the chest have been shown to be unreliable as a screening tool for vocal cord palsy, and a negative X‐ray does not effectively exclude an underlying malignant cause 7 . Ultrasound may be helpful for right‐sided palsy and may be a useful dynamic test of vocal cord function.…”

Fehler und Gefahren: Behandlung gutartiger Kehlkopferkrankungen

“…Zum Ausschluss maligner Prozesse in der Schilddrüse oder cervikaler Lymphknoten kann die Sonografi e entscheidende diagnostische Hinweise geben [ 164 ] . Eine Computertomografi e mit Kontrastmittel sollte den Nerven in seinem gesamten Verlauf von der Schädelbasis bis zum Zielorgan darstellen [ 165 ] . Die Empfehlungen hinsichtlich der Wahl der Bildgebung (Röntgen, CT oder MRT) werden in der Literatur teilweise sehr widersprüchlich diskutiert.…”