William W. Montgomery, MD, Robert E. Hillman, PhD, Mark A. Varvares. MD

The preoperative evaluation and technique of combined thyroplasty and inferior constrictor myotomy are described and illustrated. The results in cases in which thyroplasty type I and inferior constrictor myotomy were done as separate procedures are compared to those in cases in which thyroplasty and inferior constrictor myotomy were combined in the same operation. The end results obtained with these two approaches did not differ significantly; however, with the exception of brain stem disease, patients undergoing the combined procedure at an early date are more likely to be spared gastrostomy and aspiration pneumonia. Diseases of the brain stem (i.e., stroke and metastatic disease such as breast cancer) respond poorly to an inferior constrictor myotomy. In such cases the patient can best be rehabilitated with a thyroplasty type I along with a gastrostomy or laryngeal closure procedure.

KEY WORDS-cranial nerve paralysis, inferior constrictor, larynx, myotomy, phonosurgery, thyroplasty.