Contribution of the Montgomery implant in the framework of medialization thyroplasty : voice results analysis pre and post-operative : the experience of CHU UCL Namur

In the framework of this memory, we turn on the issue of the comparison of the voice results before and after medialization thyroplasty surgery using Montgomery implant, in order to correct unilateral paralysis of the vocal fold and cordectomy. We will also test the possible impact of the gender and antecedent. Our cohort corresponds to 27 patients. We have 19 male patients and 8 female patients with a sex ratio of 2.37. They are aged between 14 and 87 years leading to an average of 58.92 years. We have a total of 21 unilateral paralysis of the vocal fold and 6 cordectomy. This work is defined as a retrospective analysis of the files available at the CHU UCL Namur – site Godinne. We performed data collection by establishing a patient list. Following this list, data could be recovered in part from a summary file of the results of patient checkups, belonging to the speech therapists attached to the ENT service, and partly by hand by consulting the concerned files. The statistical analysis has been performed under the supervision of J. Ambroise (bio-statistician – Institut de Recherche Expérimentale et Clinique – IREC – UCL). For each parameter of vocal assessments, a mixed effects model was built in order to assess the impact of the surgical operation, the gender and the antecedent on the corresponding outcome. Our statistical results allowed us to find that the Prepost variable brings a considerable contribution to our research. On the other hand, the antecedent variable, considered alone, brings few contributions. The gender variable is mixed. We can conclude that our work has actually demonstrated the interest of the medialization thyroplasty with Montgomery implant to correct voice impairment after unilateral paralysis of the vocal fold or following cordectomy.