Intracordal injection of autologous fat in patients with unilateral laryngeal nerve paralysis: long-term results from the patient's perspective.

OBJECTIVE

Based on 80 patients with a previously nonsurgically treated unilateral laryngeal nerve paralysis (ULNP) and according to the patient's self-assessment, the authors document the long-term results achieved with the intracordal injection of autologous fat.

STUDY

DESIGN

Retrospective series, inception cohort.

METHODS

Kaplan-Meier actuarial life table method and univariate analysis.

RESULTS

None of the 80 patients died in the immediate postoperative period. Morbidity included hematoma at the donor site (in three patients), development of an intracordal cyst at the injection site (in three patients), fat extrusion at the injection site (in one patient), and temporary tracheotomy (in one patient). The initial and ultimate overall success rates were 96.2% and 77.2%, respectively. In univariate analysis, none of the variables under analysis (gender, age, associated neurological lesions, associated pneumonectomy, associated neoplasia, cause of the ULNP, side of the ULNP, nerve involved, delay between the onset of the ULNP and the intracordal injection, severity of the symptoms, mode of harvesting the autologous fat, and surgeon who performed the injection) was statistically related to the ultimate outcome after the intracordal injection of autologous fat. Among the group of 45 patients in whom the intracordal injection was initially considered to be successful with no further recovery of motion of the true vocal cord and a minimum survival of 12 months, the ultimate overall success rate was 62.2%, and the 3-month, 6-month, and 12-month Kaplan-Meier actuarial estimates for success were 91.1%, 72.8%, and 63.1%, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

In the present study, data confirm that the intracordal injection of autologous fat is a useful and safe procedure in patients with ULNP. However, the impossibility of exactly predicting the amount of resorption of the injected fat and the lack of predictability of the duration of the results, together with the good and stable results achieved at the authors' department with the medialization thyroplasty led the authors to reduce its current use.