Establish Quantitative Measurements of Laryngeal Sensorimotor Functions and Evaluating the Grade of Phonation and Swallowing Impairment

Plain-language summary

Laryngeal motor and sensory nerve dysfunction may cause phonation and swallowing disturbance, which often happens after the treatment for laryngopharyngeal and esophageal cancer and may induce fatal complications such as aspiration pneumonia. By the conventional examinations, the tiny sensory or motor changes are hard to be detected before complete vocal paralysis. It is utmost important to establish a comprehensive quantitative method which is sensitive enough to evaluate the neuromuscular functions. The present project will evaluate the laryngeal nerve function by quantitative laryngeal electromyography, which was developed by the research team, and another novel examination technique, mucosal membrane sensation test. The comprehensive method is expected to grade the laryngeal nerve injuries quantitatively before the significant symptoms or complications and can also help to evaluate the treatment effect from medicine, rehabilitation or surgery.

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