Improved Outcome Measures for Rating Spasmodic Dysphonia

Introduction:

Spasmodic Dysphonia (SD) is a rare disease, for which there is no consensus on the outcome measures to be used for the diagnosis and/or the treatment evaluation.

The study objective is to evaluate typical objective and subjective outcome measures, routinely used for the evaluation of other voice disorders, to determine their suitability to identify and quantify the SD symptoms before and after treatment.

Method:

systematic collection of data within a real-life registry from SD patients without dysphonia due to other causes including vocal tremor before and after treatment, followed-up for a maximum period of 2 years.

Results:

so far 16 patients have been included in the registry. The Voice Range Profile, the Maximum Phonation Time, the Roughness, Breathiness, Hoarseness, and the 12-item Voice Handicap Index showed an abnormal pattern in untreated SD patients. 3 months after Botulinumtoxin injection, the same outcome measures were found similar to the pre-treatment condition. The Sidney Swallow Questionnaire did not show swallowing problems before or after the treatment. VAS and Likert scales used to evaluate the subjective perception of the patients regarding the SD symptoms detected moderate to severe voice problems.

Conclusions:

SD patients show an abnormal profile according to the most commonly used objective and subjective voice assessment measures. The evaluation of the treatment effectiveness requires additional tailoring of the follow-up in order to evaluate the best possible effect at its peak. Additional outcome measures, such as spectrography may improve the evaluation of the SD symptoms and treatments.

Publication History

Publication Date:
23 April 2019 (online)