Active clinical trials for "Hoarseness"

Glucocorticoids are well known for their analgesic, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory and anti-emetic effects. Recovery time after thyroid surgery may depend on several factors, such as postoperative pain, nausea and vomiting, postoperative sore throat, voice disorders and symptomatic hypocalcaemia (low serum calcium level). However, there is little information in the literature about the preventive use of glucocorticosteroids in patients undergoing thyroid surgery. The aim of the study is to evaluate the clinical impact of preoperative oral dexamethasone supplementation on the surgical outcome in patients with multinodular goiter undergoing total thyroidectomy. Patients will be assigned to the supplementation group and the placebo group. In the supplementation group 8mg of dexamethasone will be administered orally one hour before surgery. In the postoperative period, the frequency and intensity of pain, nausea, vomiting, sore throat and hoarseness will be assessed. The incidence of symptoms of hypocalcaemia will also be evaluted. Preoperative and postoperative levels of vitamin D, cytokines, acute phase proteins and substances related to calcium metabolism will be measured in the blood. Cytokines levels in drainage fluid will also be assessed. The main hypothesis of the study is that in patients with supplementation postoperative discomfort and decrease in serum calcium and parathormone level and hypocalcemic symptoms will be less severe and the levels of proinflammatory substances will be decreased.

The purpose of the study is to test a novel endotracheal tube support device that reduces pressure of the tube on the voice box for prevention of post intubation laryngeal symptoms including sore throat, change in voice and trouble swallowing.

This is a web-based study that involves monitoring hallmark symptoms of Parkinson's Disease (PD), specifically dysphonia and tremor, using smartphone sensor data. The entire length of the study will only take 5 minutes, so volunteers will not have to repeatedly contribute data. The study is made up of 5 short, 10-second long activities, which include sustaining the short a vowel sound to monitor changes in vocal fundamental frequency and holding a smartphone in different positions on either side of the body to measure changes in amplitude. To be a part of this study, volunteers must have an iPhone that is running on the software iOS 13 or higher, because they will be asked to download a smartphone application from an online App Store.

Spasmodic Dysphonia (SD) is a focal, action-specific movement disorder with prominent effects on speech (1, 2). Patients with SD lose their ability to speak normally due to involuntary contractions of their laryngeal muscles. As a result, SD tremendously affects an individual's quality of life by limiting their ability to communicate effectively. The current standard of care for SD involves botulinum toxin (BTX) injections into the laryngeal muscles. BTX causes a weakness in the injected muscles thereby lessening the spasms (3). The primary neurological problem is not changed but weakening the muscles temporarily diminishes the symptoms. However, BTX therapy is associated with several limitations (3, 4). First, the clinical effect produced by BTX is temporary and repeated injections are required approximately every 3 months. Second, there is a delay in the onset of benefits provided by BTX injections; this delay results in a sinusoidal symptom curve where SD is optimally controlled for only a portion of each treatment cycle and patients' spasms return prior to the next injection cycle. Furthermore, the injections can be very painful and some patients develop antibodies to BTX (3, 4). Oral medications used in dystonia, such as anticholinergics, benzodiazepines, and baclofen, provide minimal relief and have numerous side effects at the doses required to influence a patient's voice. Thus, on basis of these limitations, we set out to explore new and innovative strategies to treat SD and provide patients with long-term benefit. Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) is a neurosurgical procedure that involves the implantation of electrodes to deliver electrical stimuli to specific brain regions. It is the gold-standard surgical treatment for other movement disorders such as Parkinson's disease and generalized dystonia. During a DBS procedure, an electrode is inserted very precisely into the brain and is linked to a pacemaker implanted under the skin of the chest or abdominal wall. When the pacemaker is switched on, a very small electric current passes into the brain, blocking the damaging signals that cause the condition.

The general aim of the research is to provide scientific evidence that vibro-tactile stimulation (VTS) represents a non-invasive form of neuromodulation that can induce measurable improvements in the speech of patients with laryngeal dystonia (LD) - also called spasmodic dysphonia (SD).

Using a comprehensive approach of clinico-behavioral testing, neuroimaging and pharmacogenetics, the researchers will examine the clinical effects of sodium oxybate and the matched placebo on voice symptoms in spasmodic dysphonia and voice tremor.

Endotracheal Intubation (EI) is performed in order to monitor the effectiveness of anesthesia and to control the patient's breathing during the surgery under general anesthesia. In EI, which is an invasive procedure, damage to the larynx and trachea may occur during the placement of the endotracheal tube or due to long-term use. Complications such as postintubation ulcer, laryngeal nerve paresis, arytenoid dislocation may develop in the early period due to EI, and patients may have complaints such as sore throat, swallowing problems, hoarseness, and cough in the postoperative period. This affects the comfort of the patients in the postoperative period. For this reason, it is important to prevent intubation-related symptoms of patients who will undergo surgical intervention before they occur.

The goal of this observational study is to evaluate the cortical silent period (cSP) in cricothyroid muscle (CT) in laryngeal dystonia and control healthy subjects. The study will provide norms related to latency and amplitude of motor evoked potentials (MEPs) and duration of cSP in CT muscle in laryngeal dystonia and control healthy subjects. Findings may give a baseline in comparison to findings in laryngeal diseases and insight into maladaptive cortical control function during phonation in laryngeal diseases like laryngeal dystonia.

The contribution of genetic risk factors to the development of focal dystonias is evident. However, understanding of how variations in the causative gene expression lead to variations in brain abnormalities in different phenotypes of dystonia (e.g., familial, sporadic) remains limited. The research program of the investigators is set to determine the relationship between brain changes and genetic risk factors in laryngeal dystonia (or spasmodic dysphonia). The researchers use a novel approach of combined imaging genetics, next-generation DNA sequencing, and clinical-behavioral testing. The use of a cross-disciplinary approach as a tool for the discovery of the mediating neural mechanisms that bridge the gap from DNA sequence to the pathophysiology of dystonia holds a promise for the understanding of the mechanistic aspects of brain function affected by risk gene variants, which can be used reliably for the discovery of associated genes and neural integrity markers for this disorder. The expected outcome of this study may lead to better clinical management of this disorder, including its improved detection, accurate diagnosis, and assessment of the risk of developing dystonia in family members.

Studies have suggested that voluntary muscle exercise in the hand and face after botulinum toxin injection may enhance the clinical effects of the toxin. Exercise may speed up the absorption of the toxin by the nerves and enhance the clinical response. This study will explore the effect of exercise on botulinum toxin injections for spasmodic dysphonia (SD).