Beatboxing Protective of the Vocal Cords?

Beatboxing is a popular vocal percussion technique that incorporates use of the entire vocal tract. Recently, research by Dr. Steven Simms (who I had the pleasure of working with briefly when we were both at Yale University in the 1990s) suggested that beatboxing techniques may actually protect against vocal cord injury.

Unlike singing where most of the sustained energy is directed at the vocal cord level, beatboxing makes extensive use of the entire vocal tract, especially the muscles of the throat.

Although more research is needed, it is not inconceivable that beatboxing techniques may potentially be helpful to patients who have suffered from vocal cord injury. The question is what techniques specifically and how it can be incorporated into voice therapy sessions. Furthermore, such vocal techniques may be more "acceptable" to teenagers who may scoff at more traditional strategies.

Check out this fiberoptic laryngoscopy video of a beatboxing artist.

Reference:
Functional Endoscopic Analysis of Beatbox Performers. Journal of Voice. Published Online 12/23/13. PII: S0892-1997(13)00243-9 doi:10.1016/j.jvoice.2013.11.007

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Lawsuit for Botched Laser Vocal Cord Surgery

In February 2012, an ENT surgeon removed vocal cord polyps using a laser while the patient was asleep with a Medtronic Laser-Shield II endotracheal tube. Unfortunately, the laser perforated the endotracheal tube, ignited the 100% oxygen being used at the time resulting in catastrophic burns to the patient. [link]

Subsequent lawsuit resulted in favor of the patient who received an award totaling $30 million on 12/5/13.

What Happened?

Even though an endotracheal tube meant for use with laser procedures was utilized, if this specially designed tube sustains enough damage from the laser, it will either perforate or heat to a high enough temperature to ignite. Furthermore, 100% oxygen was administered by the anesthesiologist which just added gasoline to the flame.

Ideally, in such laser procedures, meticulous surgical technique is still required and care taken to avoid damaging the endotracheal tube, even if a "laser-safe" tube is used. The "weak" part of any laser-safe tube is the cuff that is inflated to make a tight seal between the trachea and the tube itself. As such, the cuff material is necessarily thin. Saline-soaked pledgets placed immediately above the cuff helps protect the cuff as well as use of a tube with two cuffs (in case one fails). Also, room air should have been administered to the patient in the event the tube fails in order to minimize oxygen in the area... and the patient placed temporarily on apnea whenever the laser is turned on.

The risk of fire among other reasons are why many ENT surgeons (myself included), have stopped using lasers for procedures done in the mouth and airway.

With vocal cord procedures, I still utilize cold steel techniques which has a zero risk of airway fire.

Sources:
Botched surgery will cost hospital. The Wenatchee World. 12/6/13.

Medtronic slips $18M verdict in surgical fire case. MassDevice. 12/10/13

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Reflux Increases Risk of Throat Cancer by 78%

Brown University researchers found that frequent heartburn was an independent risk factor for not only esophageal cancer but also cancer of the throat and vocal cords. This conclusion was based on a large population study involving 631 patients with throat cancer and 1,234 without throat cancer as a control group.

The study group also did not heavily smoke, drink, or have HPV (other independent risk factors for throat cancer).

Individuals with frequent heartburn were found to have a 78% increased risk of developing throat cancer. What researchers also found was that taking antacids for reflux (but not proton pump inhibitors or H2 blockers) seemed to protect against the development of throat cancer by 41% in patients with frequent heartburn.

The explanation for how reflux can cause throat cancer is similar to how it can also cause esophageal cancer. With repetitive mucosal injury by gastric juices to the delicate lining of the throat, there is a cycle of healing and injury that may eventually trigger cancer development. Patients with reflux that reaches the throat level have a condition called LPR or laryngopharyngeal reflux. Although symptoms may be similar to the more common GERD, it is not unusual for patients to experience only throat symptoms without the heartburn. Such atypical symptoms include:

• Chronic cough
• Phlegmy throat
• Chronic throat clearing
• Vocal cord dysfunction
• Globus pharyngeus

It is also notable that it takes far less reflux episodes in the throat region compared to the esophagus in order to trigger mucosal damage... it takes fewer than THREE episodes per WEEK! [link]

In any case, more research is needed to determine at what point cancer risk increases in individuals with LPR, what type of reflux (acid?, non-acid?, pepsin?, bile?) triggers cancer concern, to what degree of reflux prevention is required to protect against cancer development.

Also more needs to be done to figure out why antacids help reduce cancer risk, but not other types of reflux medications.

References:
Gastric Reflux Is an Independent Risk Factor for Laryngopharyngeal Carcinoma. Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention. Published Online First May 23, 2013; doi: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-13-0183

The otolaryngologic manifestations of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD): a clinical investigation of 225 patients using ambulatory 24-hour pH monitoring and an experimental investigation of the role of acid and pepsin in the development of laryngeal injury. Laryngoscope. 1991 Apr;101(4 Pt 2 Suppl 53):1-78.

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Pitch Perfect's Vocal Cord Nodules

Becca (played by Anna Kendrick)

In the hilarious movie Pitch Perfect, Becca played by the lovely Anna Kendrick participates in an all-female a capella singing group.

During a critical juncture in the movie, one of the soloist Chloe (played by Brittany Snow) reveals she had been living (and singing) with vocal cord nodules.

The movie implies that Chloe's vocal cord nodules were surgically removed and that perhaps days later, she resumed singing, though not recovered to the degree that she's able to sing a solo. See video clip below.

Couple problems with this scenario which does not reflect reality.

Vocal cord nodules develop due to aggressive voice use, especially with poor talking or singing technique. As such, initial treatment is NOT surgical because if the underlying vocal behavior that led to vocal cord nodules is not corrected, they will just come back... and you can add some scarring as well due to the surgery itself (strict voice rest for a prolonged period of time after surgery is a must to minimize scarring complications).

Strict voice rest is also not the best course of action which will help initially, but again, if voice use resumes without the underlying bad vocal behavior being corrected, the nodules will just come back again.

So what is the correct course of action???

1) Aggressive voice therapy... Given Chloe is a singer, working with an experienced singing voice therapist would be of tremendous benefit. She can continue singing, but use of electronic amplification is a must to minimize increased compensatory volume (people tend to increase their voice in loud surroundings) and her singing should be limited to low impact vocalizations (think Silent Night rather than Ode to Joy).

2) Limit talking if at all possible and avoid being in conditions where there's a lot of noise. NEVER abuse the voice (no screaming, yelling, etc) which may be hard to do in a college setting with loud restaurants and bars.

3) If after a prolonged voice therapy and restricted voice use does not resolve the vocal cord nodules, only than would surgical intervention be considered. There are two flavors of surgical intervention: steroid injections to the nodules or excising the vocal cord nodules. Needless to say, there will be a mandatory prolonged period of strict voice rest after surgical intervention.

Read more about treatment here.

Finally, there's another scene where Chloe's voice was able to achieve an unusually low note. That does NOT happen with vocal cord nodules whether before or after surgery. Chloe's pitch range should remain the same. The only situation where her pitch would drop lower than normal would be if her vocal cords became diffusely swollen. Just like a violin string, the thicker the string or in this case vocal cord, the lower the pitch.

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Pop Singer Nathan Sykes Undergoes Vocal Cord Surgery

Nathan Sykes, singer for the boy band The Wanted, underwent vocal cord surgery on April 18, 2013 for a "hemorrhaged nodule" according to media reports.

Rather than a nodule, I am suspecting he actually suffered from a hemorrhagic polyp which makes more medical sense. And along with surgery... he is now on voice rest for an indefinite period of time.

This condition is the same reason Adele underwent vocal cord surgery in 2011 which mandated a several month period of voice rest leading to cancelled concerts.

Typically, a hemorrhagic polyp is treated with strict voice rest followed by extensive voice therapy prior to surgical consideration. However, this (safe) course of action takes time and as such, much more aggressive approaches can be pursued in order to recover the voice as quickly as possible.

For professional singers like Nathan Sykes and Adele, the desire to have a restored voice as soon as possible is understandable. However, there are always downsides.

To explain, a lesson in some basic anatomy first...

Normally, the vocal cords are pearly white without any vasculature. Watch a video of how this exam is performed.

However, when a blood vessel is present in the vocal cords, they may look something like this:

When there is a hemorrhagic polyp with a blood vessel as in Nathan's case (presumably), the vocal cords may have looked like this where the blue arrowhead is pointing to a hemorrhagic polyp. The green arrow is pointing towards a feeding blood vessel.

The issue with a blood vessel within the vocal cord itself is that it fluctuates in size due to phono-trauma or even hormones especially in females. When a polyp is present, the vocal changes are even more dramatic. Such fluctuation in size causes the voice to change in pitch and quality on an hour to hour basis depending on how much swelling occurs. For a singer, it makes the voice very unpredictable.

When the blood vessel becomes engorged and traumatized, it may even rupture leading to a vocal cord hemorrhage. Especially in a woman, the blood vessel may be more prone to hemorrhage during her menstrual cycle.

This is a dangerous situation for a singer because of their regular voice use and need to use it forcefully. However with too much force, the blood vessel may suddenly rupture (even in the middle of a performance) resulting in a hemorrhage into the vocal lining itself causing a sudden and complete loss of voice. There may even be mild pain associated with this occurrence.

It is unknown what exactly happened in Nathan Syke's case.

But, in Adele's case, she remembers the very moment this occurred during a radio interview when she "felt a pop" and her vocal pitch suddenly dropped into the bass range.

This makes perfect sense... To use the analogy of a violin string, the thicker the violin string the deeper the pitch. When hemorrhage occurs, the vocal cord becomes thicker due to blood pooling resulting in a deeper voice instantly.

To the right is a picture of a vocal cord hemorrhage. Note the entire vocal cord on one side (which is the patient's right side for those in the know) is brilliant red indicative of the presence of blood throughout the cord.

How is this treated?

Initially, during an acute vocal cord hemorrhage, STRICT VOICE REST is mandatory. With continued voice use, the patient risks abnormal healing that may result in the development or exacerbation of a vocal cord polyp. With repetitive cycles of healing and trauma, vocal cord scarring may even develop. Along with strict voice rest, steroids are often prescribed to help reduce the inflammatory swelling that often occurs as well as minimize risk of scarring.

Unfortunately, though such treatment may resolve the hemorrhage, it will typically not get rid of the culprit blood vessel and associated polyp.

For that, surgical intervention is required.

One option is to precisely cut out the polyp and cauterize the feeding blood vessel at the same time. This approach was the course that Adele pursued and probably what happened with Nathan Sykes as well. Watch a video on this approach (video shows a generic vocal cord mass removal, but the approach is identical).

The other option is use of a laser first to extinguish blood vessels present which may also significantly resolve the polyp followed by excision of the residual polyp at a later date. This latter approach is typically what I recommend. Why? It is relatively non-invasive and I feel the risk of scarring to be less compared with excision and vessel obliteration with a laser at the same time (though not zero). Furthermore, a smaller polyp also means a smaller wound that needs to heal.

Shown at end of this blog article is a video of a vascular polyp being obliterated using a pulsed-dye laser (courtesy of Dr. Chandra Marie-Ivey). Another type of laser that may be used is a KTP laser. Read more about laser treatment of vocal cord pathology here.

Regardless of how or in what order the surgery is performed, strict voice rest is mandatory for a period of time post-operatively. For Adele, that was strict voice rest for nearly two months (Nov and Dec 2011). Why? Because with talking or any other vocal activity, the vocal cords come together. After surgical removal of a polyp, there is a raw surface present which won't heal as well if the other vocal cord is banging against it. Talking after vocal cord surgery is analogous to jogging right after foot surgery.

The vocal cord surgical wound MUST heal prior to talking let alone singing for normal recovery. That means strict voice rest. Strict voice rest means no talking, no singing, no whispering, no mouthing words, no throat-clearing, no humming, etc.

Read more about vocal cord polyps here.

Source:
The Wanted's Nathan Sykes Taking 'Unforeseen Hiatus'. MTV News 4/17/13

The Wanted say they 'fear' for Nathan Sykes' voice. BBC News 4/29/13

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New Video on Thyroid Surgery and Its Complications

A new video has been created regarding how the thyroid gland is removed along with potential complications that may occur with this surgical procedure.

This video creation was a collaborative effort between myself and Dr. Henson, the general surgeon who performed the actual operation portrayed in the video. Assistance by Robin Earl and the surgical staff at Fauquier Hospital were invaluable as well.

Read more about the surgery here or watch the video!

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Breathing or Voice... You Can Only Have One...

Sounds like a choice taken out of a morbid horror movie...

"You can ONLY have one... Your voice or your breath..."

The victim than loses one or the other after making a choice getting either the tongue or head cut off with a knife.

But patients with vocal cord paralysis on both sides are essentially faced with this very question.

Normally, the vocal cords (TVC in picture below) found in the voicebox move to accommodate talking or breathing.

When the vocal cords are apart, breathing occurs allowing air to pass unimpeded between the vocal cords and down into the lungs. However, with talking, the vocal cords come together tightly and vibrate creating voice. Watch a movie.

However, when both vocal cords become paralyzed, they neither move apart to help with breathing nor come together to assist with talking. Indeed, the voice and breathing BOTH stink.

It is in just this situation that the choice of breathing or voice becomes important because a patient can not have both. Improving one will sacrifice the other.

To explain this connection of voice and breathing further, normally, when the vocal cords are both moving fine, the voice is at 100% and breathing is at 100%. However, with bilateral paralysis, the voice and breathing are now linked to each other and collectively can not exceed 100%. As such, a patient with new onset bilateral vocal cord paralysis may start with a 40% of normal vocal quality and 60% of normal breathing ability for a total of 100%.

Using this scenario as a starting point where vocal quality is at 40% and breathing is at 60% of normal...

If a patient chooses to improve the vocal quality from 40% to 100% (an improvement of 60%), then breathing WILL correspondingly decrease 60% down to 0%... and potentially die given the ability to breathe is lost. Why? Because the vocal cords can be surgically forced together to allow for voice... but given the vocal cords are paralyzed, they can not move back apart to allow for breathing.


If a patient chooses to improve breathing quality from 60% to 100% (an improvement of 40%),  then the vocal quality WILL correspondingly decrease 40% down to 0%... and lose the ability to talk. Why? Because the vocal cords can be surgically forced apart to allow for breathing... but given the vocal cords are paralyzed, they can not move back together to allow for vocal cord vibration.


The total percentage of vocal and breathing quality can never be more than 100%. If a patient wants the best possibly voice and breathing, than a compromise would be to increase the vocal quality 10% from 40% to 50%, but understanding that this 10% improvement in vocal quality WILL mean a corresponding 10% decrease in breathing ability from 60% to 50%. This 10% change means that in the end, the voice and breathing would both end up at 50% of normal.

In most cases of bilateral vocal cord paralysis, it is the reduced breathing and shortness of breath that bothers people the most. The voice isn't good, but when given the choice, most people choose to try and improve their breathing ability understanding their voice may further deteriorate.

To read more about such treatment options, click here.

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John Mayer Undergoes Second Vocal Cord Surgery

On August 27, 2012, media reported that grammy-award winning singer John Mayer underwent vocal cord surgery for a 2nd time in an attempt to permanently remove a recurrent vocal cord granuloma.

Fans know that in September 2011, John Mayer announced the cancellation of a number of concerts as well as an album due to the development of a vocal cord granuloma of his voicebox. Read a blog article about this.

On Oct 20, 2011, he underwent surgery for the first time to remove the granuloma and was on strict voice rest for several weeks with plans to resume live singing in the first quarter of 2012.

Unfortunately, on March 9, 2012, it was found that his vocal cord granuloma had recurred in the same location. In a statement he publicly released:

"Because of this, I have no choice but to take an indefinite break from live performing. Though there will be a day when all of this will be behind me, it will sideline me for a longer period of time than I care to have you count down."

Well, it seems that whatever intervention pursued since March 2012 did not work completely given the repeat surgery.

Given this is his second surgery for the same problem, I suspect that not only was the granuloma removed, but perhaps steroid was injected into the wound bed to try and prevent the tissue growth that may lead to granuloma reformation as well as application of mitomycin C, a chemotherapy agent. Post-procedure treatment with PDL or KTP laser may also be pursued to ablate any proliferative blood vessels that my encourage granuloma formation. Botox may even have been injected to partially paralyze his ability to bring the vocal cords together to prevent phono-trauma to the site.

Is this unusual that his vocal cord granuloma recurred?

Unfortunately, it is not...

Vocal cord granulomas are benign masses that commonly are due to repetitive mild vocal trauma resulting in exuberant growth of a specific region of the voicebox lining. An imprecise analogy of what a granuloma is would be a keloid of the skin. Unfortunately, such repetitive mild vocal trauma includes talking/singing, hence the high risk of recurrence. The key to treatment is to allow the granuloma site to heal COMPLETELY prior to any further phonotrauma (ie, talking/singing).

That means strict voice rest.

Indeed, John Mayer stated (or wrote) after his most recent surgery:

"Silent for the next few months, no singing for probably six, but all signs point to this being the last step in getting to perform again."

Strict voice rest as well as voice therapy helps as it eliminates the repetitive phonotrauma that promotes regrowth. Reflux control is also essential with medications.

Surgical removal of the granuloma may have looked something like this video...

To summarize, the steps followed when a granuloma-like mass is discovered on exam is as follows:

1) Trial restricted voice use and reflux medications. Voice therapy also strongly recommended. Strict voice rest is preferred if possible.

2) If no improvement after a period of time, surgical excision to ensure it truly is a granuloma and not cancer or some other pathology

3) Follow-up with steroid injections to the granuloma site. Watch video below.

4) Botox injection can be considered which chemically prevents complete vocal cord adduction preventing the repetitive trauma to the granuloma site.

5) Re-excision may be required at which time mitomycin C application can be tried.

Read more about voicebox granulomas.

Source:
Surgery silences singer John Mayer for a spell. CNN 9/1/12

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R&B Singer Maxwell with Vocal Cord Hemorrhage

At least that's what the Washington Post reported on June 22, 2012. This has resulted in cancellation of his summer tour.

Per media reports, his vocal cords are swollen with hemorrhage.

Some fans may recall that something similar happened to Adele in winter of 2011 which resulted in her also canceling a number of engagements. She ultimately had surgery to correct her problem.

Normally, the vocal cords are pearly white without any vasculature. Watch a video of how this exam is performed.

However, when a blood vessel is present in the vocal cords, they may look something like this:

The issue with a blood vessel within the vocal cord itself is that it fluctuates in size due to whether it is irritated from phono-trauma or even hormones. Such fluctuation in size causes the voice to change in pitch and quality on an hour to hour basis depending on how much swelling occurs. For a singer, it makes the voice unpredictable.

When the blood vessel becomes engorged and traumatized, it may even rupture leading to a vocal cord hemorrhage. Especially in a woman, the blood vessel may be more prone to hemorrhage during her menstrual cycle.

This is a dangerous situation for a singer because of their regular voice use and need to use it forcefully. However with too much force, the blood vessel may suddenly rupture (even in the middle of a performance) resulting in a hemorrhage into the vocal lining itself causing a sudden and complete loss of voice. If a voice is present, it is much deeper than normal due to the additional "weight" of blood and edema (just like a violin string where the thicker the string, the deeper the pitch). There may even be mild pain associated with this occurrence.

To the right is a picture of a vocal cord hemorrhage. Note the entire vocal cord on one side (which is the patient's right side for those in the know) is brilliant red indicative of the presence of blood throughout the cord.

How is this treated?

Initially during an acute vocal cord hemorrhage, STRICT VOICE REST is mandatory. With continued voice use, the patient risks abnormal healing that may result in a vocal cord polyp or vocal cord scarring. Along with strict voice rest, steroids are often prescribed to help reduce the inflammatory swelling that often occurs as well as minimize risk of scarring.

Unfortunately, though such treatment may resolve the hemorrhage, it will typically not get rid of the culprit blood vessel.

For that, surgical intervention is required.

Such surgical intervention is much like trying to get rid of varicose veins in the leg.

One option is to precisely cut it out. Watch a video on this approach (video shows a vocal cord mass removal, but just pretend the mass is a blood vessel as the approach is identical).

The other option is use of a laser which is typically what I recommend. Why? It is relatively non-invasive and I feel the risk of scarring to be less compared with excision (though not zero). Shown below is a video of a vascular polyp being obliterated using a pulsed-dye laser (courtesy of Dr. Chandra Marie-Ivey). Another type of laser that may be used is a KTP laser.

Read more about laser treatment of vocal cord pathology here.

Read the Washington Post story here.

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Synthetic Vocal Cords [video]

Synthetic vocal cords being under development at MIT and Harvard... Very good video!

What are some of the vocal cord problems that may benefit from such a synthetic gel? Vocal cord paralysis, vocal cord surgery to address polyps, cysts, nodules, granulomas, etc.

As an FYI... the synthetic vocal cord gel portrayed in the video is still under development and not available for patient use yet...

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Singer John Mayer Has Recurrence of Vocal Cord Granuloma

In September 2011, grammy-award winning singer John Mayer announced the cancellation of a number of concerts as well as an album due to the development of a vocal cord granuloma of his voicebox. Read a blog article about this.

On Oct 20, 2011, he underwent surgery to remove the granuloma and was on strict voice rest for several weeks with plans to resume live singing in the first quarter of 2012.

Unfortunately, on March 9, 2012, it was found that his vocal cord granuloma has recurred in the same location. In a statement he publicly released:

"Because of this, I have no choice but to take an indefinite break from live performing. Though there will be a day when all of this will be behind me, it will sideline me for a longer period of time than I care to have you count down."

 Is this unusual that his vocal cord granuloma recurred?

Unfortunately, it is not...

Vocal cord granulomas are benign masses that commonly are due to repetitive mild vocal trauma resulting in exuberant growth of a specific region of the voicebox lining. An imprecise analogy of what a granuloma is would be a keloid of the skin. Unfortunately, such repetitive mild vocal trauma includes talking/singing, hence the high risk of recurrence. The key to treatment is to allow the granuloma site to heal COMPLETELY prior to any further phonotrauma (ie, talking/singing).

Strict voice rest as well as voice therapy helps as it eliminates the repetitive phonotrauma that promotes regrowth. Reflux control is also essential. However, it is not unusual that steroid injections to the granuloma site as well as even botox injection to partially and temporarily paralyze the vocal cord may need to be pursued for complete resolution. Laser and mitomycin C application has also been found to be helpful.

Surgical removal of the granuloma may have looked something like this video...

To summarize, the steps followed when a granuloma-like mass is discovered on exam is as follows:

1) Trial restricted voice use and reflux medications. Voice therapy also strongly recommended. Strict voice rest is preferred if possible.

2) If no improvement after a period of time, surgical excision to ensure it truly is a granuloma and not cancer or some other pathology

3) Follow-up with steroid injections to the granuloma site. Watch video below.

4) Botox injection can be considered which chemically prevents complete vocal cord adduction preventing the repetitive trauma to the granuloma site.

5) Re-excision may be required at which time mitomycin C application can be tried.

Read more about voicebox granulomas.

Source:

John Mayer's Granuloma Returns, Singer Taking "Indefinite Break From Live Perfoming". E Online 3/9/12

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Adele Speaks About her Vocal Cord Surgery on 60 Minutes

When it was first reported that Adele was undergoing vocal cord surgery in October 2011, there was much speculation regarding what exact vocal cord pathology she suffered from (hemorrhage? polyp?) and what type of vocal cord surgery she underwent for correction (laser? cutting?).

During her 60 Minutes interview with Anderson Cooper which aired on February 12, 2012, many details regarding her vocal cord problems have clarified.

She apparently suffered from a vocal cord polyp with hemorrhage.

Typically, this problem is normally treated with strict voice rest followed by extensive voice therapy prior to surgical consideration. However, this (safe) course of action takes time and as such, she pursued a much more aggressive approach in order to recover her voice as quickly as possible.

To explain, a lesson in some basic anatomy first...

Normally, the vocal cords are pearly white without any vasculature. Watch a video of how this exam is performed.

However, when a blood vessel is present in the vocal cords, they may look something like this:

When there is a hemorrhagic polyp with a blood vessel as in Adele's case, her vocal cords may have looked like this where the blue arrowhead is pointing to a hemorrhagic polyp. The green arrow is pointing towards a feeding blood vessel.

The issue with a blood vessel within the vocal cord itself is that it fluctuates in size due to whether it is irritated from phono-trauma or even hormones. When a polyp is present, the vocal changes are even more dramatic. Such fluctuation in size causes the voice to change in pitch and quality on an hour to hour basis depending on how much swelling occurs. For a singer, it makes the voice very unpredictable.

When the blood vessel becomes engorged and traumatized, it may even rupture leading to a vocal cord hemorrhage. Especially in a woman, the blood vessel may be more prone to hemorrhage during her menstrual cycle.

This is a dangerous situation for a singer because of their regular voice use and need to use it forcefully. However with too much force, the blood vessel may suddenly rupture (even in the middle of a performance) resulting in a hemorrhage into the vocal lining itself causing a sudden and complete loss of voice. There may even be mild pain associated with this occurrence.

In Adele's case, she remembers the very moment this occurred during a radio interview when she "felt a pop" and her vocal pitch suddenly dropped into the bass range.

This makes perfect sense... To use the analogy of a violin string, the thicker the violin string the deeper the pitch. When hemorrhage occurs, the vocal cord becomes thicker due to blood pooling resulting in a deeper voice instantly.

To the right is a picture of a vocal cord hemorrhage. Note the entire vocal cord on one side (which is the patient's right side for those in the know) is brilliant red indicative of the presence of blood throughout the cord.

How is this treated?

Initially, during an acute vocal cord hemorrhage, STRICT VOICE REST is mandatory. With continued voice use, the patient risks abnormal healing that may result in the development or exacerbation of a vocal cord polyp. With repetitive cycles of healing and trauma, vocal cord scarring may even develop. Along with strict voice rest, steroids are often prescribed to help reduce the inflammatory swelling that often occurs as well as minimize risk of scarring.

Unfortunately, though such treatment may resolve the hemorrhage, it will typically not get rid of the culprit blood vessel and associated polyp.

For that, surgical intervention is required.

One option is to precisely cut out the polyp and cauterize the feeding blood vessel at the same time. This approach was the course that Adele pursued. Watch a video on this approach (video shows a generic vocal cord mass removal, but the approach is identical).

The other option is use of a laser first to extinguish blood vessels present which may also significantly resolve the polyp followed by excision of the residual polyp at a later date. This latter approach is typically what I recommend. Why? It is relatively non-invasive and I feel the risk of scarring to be less compared with excision and vessel obliteration with a laser at the same time (though not zero). Furthermore, a smaller polyp also means a smaller wound that needs to heal.

Shown at end of this blog article is a video of a vascular polyp being obliterated using a pulsed-dye laser (courtesy of Dr. Chandra Marie-Ivey). Another type of laser that may be used is a KTP laser. Read more about laser treatment of vocal cord pathology here.

Regardless of how or in what order the surgery is performed, strict voice rest is mandatory for a period of time post-operatively. For Adele, that was strict voice rest for nearly two months (Nov and Dec 2011). Why? Because with talking or any other vocal activity, the vocal cords come together. After surgical removal of a polyp, there is a raw surface present which won't heal as well if the other vocal cord is banging against it. Talking after vocal cord surgery is analogous to jogging right after foot surgery.

The vocal cord surgical wound MUST heal prior to talking let alone singing for normal recovery. That means strict voice rest. Strict voice rest means no talking, no singing, no whispering, no mouthing words, no throat-clearing, no humming, etc.

Read more about vocal cord polyps here.

Read the 60 Minutes interview here.

Of note, she later went on to sing a stellar performance at the Grammy Awards debuting her new voice for the first time after her surgery.

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What is the Voicebox Doing When You Scream? Yodel?

In the same spirit of a recent TEDMED talk by Nate Bell and re-published on CNN Jan 12, 2012 whereby he performed various beatboxing noises while stroboscopy was performed, I decided to record a similar video with a person performing various unusual human vocalizations to see what happens.

For those who don't know what stroboscopy is, click here.

Such vocalizations recorded included various types of human screams and a yodel.

Check it out here...

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Laryngospasm and Vocal Cord Dysfunction Video

A new video has been uploaded showing what happens inside the throat when a patient suffering from laryngospasm or vocal cord dysfunction suffers from a breathing attack.

For more information on this condition, click here.

If you are unable to watch the video below, click here to watch it on YouTube.

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Can What Makes a Lion Roar Help Human With a Weak Voice?

Researchers in Iowa have discovered what makes a lion or tiger roar so effectively. Apparently, there is a layer of fat within large feline vocal cords that makes the vocal cords especially prone to vibrate easily with minimal exhalation effort.

What import does this have to humans?

Well, there are patients who have a very weak voice due to vocal cord atrophy as well as vocal cord paralysis. Standard interventions include voice therapy as well as surgical procedures using an implant or injectable material in order to "bulk" up the vocal cord.

In fact... one such injectable material that has been used to inject into vocal cords is fat, typically taken from the belly of the patient!

Two points to keep in mind however...

Just like in lions and tigers, it DOES improve the vocal strength and volume to a patient who previously had a weak voice, may now have a much stronger voice after the procedure.

However, the second point is that by making the vocal cord "bulkier" you are making it thicker which can decrease the vocal pitch... just like a violin string where the thicker the string, the lower the pitch.

On another related note... human infants have fat within their vocal cords... that may be why something so small with tiny lungs can produce such a terrific loud cry!

Read a story in the NYT regarding this research here.

Reference:
Adapted to Roar: Functional Morphology of Tiger and Lion Vocal Folds. PLoS ONE 6(11): e27029. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0027029

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Singer Adele Has Vocal Cord Hemorrhage and to have Surgery

At least that's what the LA Times reported on Oct 28, 2011. And supposedly will be having surgery to treat it in the near future.

Before going any further, the title to the LA Times story was "Adele to have surgery to treat vocal cord hemorrhage. What is it?"

I sincerely hope that whomever her surgeon is knows not to perform surgery when the vocal cord is in the middle of a hemorrhage. You do the surgery when the hemorrhage is gone and the culprit blood vessel is left behind which likely is the reason for the hemorrhage happening in the first place.

What do I mean?

Normally, the vocal cords are pearly white without any vasculature. Watch a video of how this exam is performed.

However, when a blood vessel is present in the vocal cords, they may look something like this:

The issue with a blood vessel within the vocal cord itself is that it fluctuates in size due to whether it is irritated from phono-trauma or even hormones. Such fluctuation in size causes the voice to change in pitch and quality on an hour to hour basis depending on how much swelling occurs. For a singer, it makes the voice unpredictable.

When the blood vessel becomes engorged and traumatized, it may even rupture leading to a vocal cord hemorrhage. Especially in a woman, the blood vessel may be more prone to hemorrhage during her menstrual cycle.

This is a dangerous situation for a singer because of their regular voice use and need to use it forcefully. However with too much force, the blood vessel may suddenly rupture (even in the middle of a performance) resulting in a hemorrhage into the vocal lining itself causing a sudden and complete loss of voice. There may even be mild pain associated with this occurrence.

To the right is a picture of a vocal cord hemorrhage. Note the entire vocal cord on one side (which is the patient's right side for those in the know) is brilliant red indicative of the presence of blood throughout the cord.

How is this treated?

Initially during an acute vocal cord hemorrhage, STRICT VOICE REST is mandatory. With continued voice use, the patient risks abnormal healing that may result in a vocal cord polyp or vocal cord scarring. Along with strict voice rest, steroids are often prescribed to help reduce the inflammatory swelling that often occurs as well as minimize risk of scarring.

Unfortunately, though such treatment may resolve the hemorrhage, it will typically not get rid of the culprit blood vessel.

For that, surgical intervention is required.

Such surgical intervention is much like trying to get rid of varicose veins in the leg.

One option is to precisely cut it out. Watch a video on this approach (video shows a vocal cord mass removal, but just pretend the mass is a blood vessel as the approach is identical).

The other option is use of a laser which is typically what I recommend. Why? It is relatively non-invasive and I feel the risk of scarring to be less compared with excision (though not zero). Shown below is a video of a vascular polyp being obliterated using a pulsed-dye laser (courtesy of Dr. Chandra Marie-Ivey). Another type of laser that may be used is a KTP laser.

Read more about laser treatment of vocal cord pathology here.

Read the LA times story here.

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Singer John Mayer Undergoes Vocal Cord Surgery

In September 2011, grammy-award winning singer John Mayer announced the cancellation of a number of concerts as well as an album due to the development of a vocal cord granuloma of his voicebox. Read a blog article about this.

Last week on Thurs, Oct 20, 2011, he underwent surgery to remove the granuloma and is now on strict voice rest for several weeks.

Though removal sounds like a great idea, vocal cord granulomas are notoriously difficult to eliminate completely as they have a high risk of recurrence. Strict voice rest as well as voice therapy helps as it eliminates the repetitive phonotrauma that promotes regrowth. Reflux control is also essential with medications. However, it is not unusual that steroid injections to the granuloma site as well as even botox injection to partially and temporarily paralyze the vocal cord may need to be pursued for complete resolution.

Surgical removal of the granuloma may have looked something like this video...


Read more about vocal cord granulomas here.

Read a NY Magazine article about his surgery.

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How do Vocal Cord Cysts, Polyps, and Nodules Form?

There are MANY theories as to how vocal cord cysts, polyps, and nodules form. However, one theory that seems to make the most sense to me deals with how the vocal cord heals after a traumatic event (ie, screaming, yelling, coughing, etc).

With a cyst, the mucosal vocal cord lining breaks down and during the healing process a cyst develops due to entrapped cells meant for creating lining. A polyp, however, is in essence a blistering of the vocal cord lining. Vocal cord nodule for comparison's sake is just callous thickening of the vocal cord lining that occurs over time.

To use human skin as an analogy...

A vocal cord cyst is like a sebaceous cyst that commonly occurs under the skin of the face or neck (a pimple, but no opening to the surface).

A vocal cord polyp is like a blister that forms on the hand if you shovel dirt too much.

A vocal cord nodule is like a callous that forms after prolonged repetitive skin trauma (like callous on the hands after shoveling dirt for years).

Read more about vocal cord cysts, polyps, and nodules!

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New Webpage on Vocal Cord Cysts and Vocal Cord Polyps

We have uploaded a new webpage describing what vocal cord cysts and vocal cord polyps are as well as how they are treated.

Vocal cord cysts are masses below the vocal cord lining whereas vocal cord polyps are masses involving the vocal cord lining.

Read more here!

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