Laryngeal Function Following Chemoradiotherapy For Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

Objective To evaluate objective parameters of laryngeal function of patients undergoing chemoradiotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma self-compared with those of pretherapy,including objective acoustic, aerodynamic testing and mucosal waves measurement.And to explore the clinic value of phonation threshold flow and mucosal waves measurement in laryngeal function assessment.Method 16 patients were enrolled,exclusive of those who have organic disorders on vocal folds and smoke.This was a self control study.The participants were seen for laryngeal function prechemoradiotherapy and at 3 month following therapy.These parameters include objective acoustic(fundamental frequency,SDF₀,noise-to-harmonic ratios,percent jitter,and percent shimmer),aerodynamic(maximum phonation time, subglottic pressure at comfortable phonation,phonation threshold pressure,phonation threshold flow,and mean glottal flow),and mucosal waves(phase delay,amplitude).Results At 3 month following chemoradiotherapy,results revealed decreased fundamental frequency(P=0.005)and significantly greater phonation threshold flow(P=0.03).A notable increase in subglottic pressure at comfort phonation was not statistically significant.No statistical changes were observed in the other parameters. Conclusion Objective acoustic and aerodynamic measurement can quantitatively evaluate laryngeal function following chemoradiotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma.Phonation threshold flow demonstrated higher sensitivity than phonation threshold pressure.