Introduction:

Laryngeal dystonia or spasmodic dysphonia is characterized by involuntary contractions of internal laryngeal muscles that are triggered when speaking, being the adductor form the most frequent. Botulinum toxin injection is the management of choice. There are several validated instruments to assess response to therapy, one of them is the Voice Handicap Index-10 (VHI-10) questionnaire. The objective of this study is to characterize patients with adductor spasmodic dysphonia and evaluate the impact of the toxin in their quality of life.

Method:

A descriptive retrospective study was carried out in adult patients with a diagnosis of adductor spasmodic dysphonia treated with botulinum toxin A, between 2013-2021 at the Hospital Clínico Universidad de Chile. The epidemiological data of the patients and the VHI-10 survey were obtained before and after one month of each toxin injection was requested.

Results:

55 patients (218 procedures) were included. The average dose used was 9.18 IU with an average interval of 7.4 months. The average VHI-10 score in the initial evaluation was 29.4 and post-infiltration was 14.96, being this difference being significant (p <0.000001). In our series, almost a third had an associated neurological pathology, and 3.67% of mild and transitory complications were reported.

Conclusion:

Adductor spasmodic dysphonia has a great impact on the quality of life of patients, which is significantly reduced by injecting botulinum toxin A, a procedure that has been shown to be safe and effective.

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