Gayle E. Woodson, MD, Arne Hengesteg, Clark A. Rosen, MD
Daniel Yeung, PhD, Naidy Chen, MS

Videoendoscopy Suggests that arytenoid adduction (AA) surgery not only medializes the paralyzed vocal fold, but increases the length of of its membranous portion so that it more closely resembles the normal side. This could represent either real length change or out of-plane rotation, Computed tomography scanning was performed on adult male cadaver larynges before and after the AA procedure to measure changes in length and spatial orientation of the vocal fold. Three-dimensional coordinates of radiopaque markers on the anterior commissure, posterior glottic midline, and vocal processes were determined. The distance between the vocal processes was 3.9 min before, and 0.8 mm after AA. The mean vocal fold length was 12.4 turn before, and 13.4mm after AA (p =.14). The vocal process moved consistently caudally, an average of 3.5 mm (p =.02), The data suggest that clinically apparent vocal fold length changes with AA could be an illusion due to vertical displacement of the vocal process, and not actual lengthening.