A follow-up study of surgically managed benign vocal cord lesions using vocal handicap index - 10 score.

Background and Objectives: Benign lesions of the vocal cords not only impair the patient's ability to communicate due to poor pronunciation and voice capabilities, but they also cause a variety of psychological and social problems, worsening their quality of life. To assess voice handicap, Voice Handicap Index (VHI)-10 is an easy-to-administer, valid and reliable tool. The present study was conducted to compare the pre-operative and post-operative well-being of patients with benign vocal cord lesions using VHI-10 among patients attending our Outpatient department. Materials and Methods: The study was a hospital based observational study with prospective study design, conducted over a period of 17 months (August 2019 to December 2020) on 53 patients who were clinically diagnosed to have benign vocal cord lesion and underwent micro laryngeal surgery followed by histopathological confirmation. Follow-up of the participants was done on 4 Results: In our study, out of 53 study participants, approximately one-third of the cases were seen in the 5 Conclusion: The VHI-10 scale is shown to be a good and convenient tool for assessing patient voice handicap and determining improvement post-operatively. Wider studies with larger sample size in different parts of the country may be recommended to validate the findings of the study. In addition to surgical excision of lesion, speech therapy, and patient counselling are indubitably essential measures that should be undertaken for each patient so as to alleviate the handicapping effect of voice disorder and improve the overall quality of life of the individuals.