Efficacy and Safety of Adjunctive Steroid Injection After Microsurgical Removal of Benign Vocal Fold Lesions

Objective This study aims to investigate the clinical efficacy and safety of immediate intralesional steroid injection in patients undergoing laryngeal microsurgery (LMS) for benign vocal fold lesions (BVFLs). Study design This is a single-institution, retrospective cohort study. Methods Patients were divided into two groups according to whether or not they received adjunctive steroid injection after LMS. We evaluated the outcomes using objective, perceptual voice analysis and videostroboscopy. We also analyzed clinical parameters and identified risk factors associated with persistent dysphonia after LMS. Results The study included a total of 211 patients with BVFLs (82 men and 129 women), which comprised 136 vocal polyps (64.5%), 49 nodules (23.2%), and 30 cysts (14.2%); 84 patients (39.8 %) had intralesional steroid administration combined with LMS. The overall results for postoperative voice parameters in both groups were significantly improved. On videostroboscopic examination, the rate of recurrent lesions was lower in the group that received adjunctive steroid injection than in the group with only LMS (P = 0.014). In the multivariate analysis, older age (compared to <50 years of age; odds ratio [OR] = 2.697, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.300–5.595, P = 0.008) and duration of hoarseness longer than 6 months (compared to <3 months; OR = 2.729, 95% CI: 1.193–6.242, P = 0.017) were identified as independent risk factors associated with persistent dysphonia. Nevertheless, adjunctive steroid injection was associated with a 0.3-fold (OR = 0.345, 95% CI: 0.152–0.784, P = 0.011) lower risk of persistent dysphonia. Conclusion Steroid injection combined with LMS in the treatment of BVFLs was safe and associated with improved voice quality.