1/3. Videoendoscopic diagnosis and correction of velopharyngeal stress incompetence in a bassoonist.Musicians who play woodwind or brass instruments must generate extremely high intraoral pressures to achieve normal tone and volume in their music. Intraoral pressures of 130 mm Hg can be reached, while normal speech rarely exceeds 6 mm Hg. The inability to maintain an effective seal between the soft palate and the pharyngeal wall can manifest as difficulty in holding high notes or in playing sustained music compositions, or noise production from turbulent nasal cavity emissions. Throughout the literature, there are few reports of these entities. We will present the case of a 31-year-old concert bassoonist who complained of "noise from her head" only when she played the bassoon. This resulted in numerous failed auditions and threatened her professional career. The diagnosis of velopharyngeal stress incompetence, as well as the Teflon injection augmentation procedure, was done under local anesthesia with the subject playing the bassoon. The use of videoendoscopic techniques allowed accurate, reproducible assessment of the defect and the operative procedure, and assisted in postoperative evaluation.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = seal (Clic here for more details about this article) |
2/3. Assessment in the treatment of hypernasal speech with motor neuron disease: a clinical report.The application of nasal anemometry in this patient's treatment proved to be of value in obtaining an objective assessment of this intervention. Nasal anemometry may be of use in other situations, for example, (1) in preassessment and postassessment of cleft palate surgery and surgical interventions to improve the velopharyngeal seal (such as pharyngoplasty), (2) in the evaluation of nasalized speech with conventional speech therapy, (3) in the evaluation of nasalized speech by use of a palatal training appliance, and (4) in the investigation of snoring.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = seal (Clic here for more details about this article) |
3/3. Aberrant retropharyngeal internal carotid artery in a child with spondyloepimetaphyseal dysplasia and cleft palate.In a patient with spondyloepimetaphyseal dysplasia and cleft palate, the course of the internal carotid artery was aberrant. Prompt identification of this anomaly is critical, because operative fatality can occur if the defect is unrecognized. This case illustrates the occurrence of this vascular anomaly and focuses on options for radiologic identification and evaluation of the defect.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 5keywords = seal (Clic here for more details about this article) |