Smoking effect in patients following benign laryngeal lesions excision

Background. Patients with benign laryngeal lesions usually complain on hoarseness, increased vocal effort, fatigue, stain, and if the lesion is large enough, a feeling of dyspnea with phonation. These symptoms considerably deteriorate the quality of life of the patients especially voice professionals. Aim. To optimize the treatment of patients with benign laryngeal lesions. Materials and methods. In the ENT Department of Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University (Sechenov University) a total of 90 patients presented with BLL were studied. All patients underwent microlaryngoscopy under general anesthesia and were divided into 3 groups depending on the surgical method that has been used: "cold-steel" instruments (n=30), radiofrequency ablation (n=30) and semiconductor laser (n=30) with wavelength of 1.94 mkm. Patients of each group were divided into smokers and non-smoking persons. We assessed preoperative and postoperative fibrolaryngoscopy during 6 month follow up period. Results. Earlier involution of postoperative reactive inflammation of vocal cord tissue (in 7 days after surgery) was observed in group 3, comparing with 14 days and longer period in group 1 and group 2 (p<0.0001). Reactive tissue inflammation was significantly higher in all smokers comparing to non-smoking patients (p<0.0001). Conclusion. The data we have obtained provide the basis for choosing semiconductor laser as a better surgical instrument while performing phonosurgical procedures. The proposed surgical technique makes it possible to reduce the recovery period in patients with benign laryngeal lesions. At the same time, it is important to recommend to quit smoking for the patients undergoing phonosurgery.

benign laryngeal lesions, fibrolaryngoscopy, microlaryngoscopy, semiconductor laser, phonosurgery