Challenge of Lung Isolation in Patients with Vocal Cord Implants

Abstract

Glottic closure insufficiency increases the risk of aspiration and pneumonia, particularly in the elderly. Medialization thyroplasty is an open surgical procedure for treating glottic incompetency by approximating both vocal folds. The vocal fold medialization is achieved by inserting an implant to bring the nonmobile fold to the unaffected side. Lung isolation in patients with vocal cord implantation poses a unique challenge. Understanding the risks of different modalities of lung isolation and their impacts on the vocal cord implant is crucial to implementing a specifically tailored plan. Preoperative bronchoscopy, intraoperative video laryngoscopy, and bronchoscopy are ideal methods for assessing the vocal fold implants and guiding the lung isolation technique. Bronchial blocker through a single-lumen endotracheal tube may be the preferred choice to avoid the injury of the stretched vocal cords and dislodgement of the implant by a larger diameter double-lumen tube.