Phonosurgical studies: fat-graft reconstruction of injured canine vocal cords

Damage to the vocal cords can result in scarring and impaired vibration and can manifest clinically as hoarseness and loss of vocal power. If the vibratory characteristics could be restored in these scarred vocal cords, the vocal intensity and efficiency of phonation also should improve. In an effort to enhance the vibration of damaged vocal cords, we implanted a submucosal fat autograft within the injured vocal cord cover layer of dogs 6 weeks after unilateral mucosal excision had been performed. Three months postoperatively these animals were compared to normal dogs and those with mucosal excision but no fat-grafting. Acoustic and biomechanical measures of phonation were collected from an excised larynx preparation. We found that the fat-augmented vocal cords had lower threshold pressures for phonation, greater vocal intensity, and more efficient acoustic output than injured vocal cords without the fat-grafting. These results provide a foundation for further research on reconstructive surgery of damaged vocal cords.