title: Treatment success for age-related vocal fold atrophy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To characterize perceived voice handicap of patients diagnosed with vocal fold atrophy and review treatment success.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two hundred seventy-five patients diagnosed with vocal fold atrophy (January 2007-January 2009) were reviewed from a preexisting clinical database. Outcome measures included pre/post-treatment Voice Handicap Index-10 and data from a voice therapy discharge survey.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Five groups emerged from the data set. Group A: patients who had no follow-up (69%). After removing group A from the data set, the following groups emerged: group B: patients who had no treatment but some follow-up (31%); group C: patients who had voice therapy only (44%); group D: patients who had surgery only (15%); and group E: patients who had voice therapy first and subsequent surgery (9%). The perceived voice handicap severity was worse for groups C and D compared to groups A, B, and E. Treatment success outcomes showed that groups C (36%), D (56%), and E (17%) only improved marginally. However, 81% of patients diagnosed with atrophy believed that voice therapy helped them but only by 48%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Treatment success for age-related vocal fold atrophy is poor to moderately poor for this cohort of patients.
authors.affiliation: University of Pittsburgh Voice Center, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Department of Otolaryngology, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. jgs@pitt.edu
authors.forename: Jackie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gartner-Schmidt
authors.forename: Clark
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rosen
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D055154:Dysphonia / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007818:Laryngeal Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*; D058753:Laryngoplasty / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009133:Muscular Atrophy / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013018:Sound Spectrography; D014827:Vocal Cords; D014833:Voice Quality; D014834:Voice Training