Effectiveness of speech therapy in the treatment of vocal fold polyps

ABSTRACT: The aim of this study was to verify the effectiveness of speech therapy in the treatment of vocal fold polyps by reviewing existing literature. Literature search was conducted through PublicMedline platform and the Scopus, Science Direct, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature and Web of Science databases, followed by critical pre-selection and deep analysis of the articles. There were included original articles in which the speech therapy was used as treatment for vocal polyp, no publication date or language restrictions. There were excluded studies addressing just other treatments for vocal polyp and also articles in which the speech therapy was used only after laryngeal surgery. A total of 905 articles were found. However, after the selection stages, only nine articles were chosen to be part of the sample. The selected articles were fully analyzed, registered through previously developed protocol. The articles analyzed in this study showed poor methodology and lack of standardization regarding the speech therapy protocols and procedures used. It was consisted mostly by retrospective case series. The sample of studies reviewed presented variation in the number of participants, the type of lesion and type of polyp. The predominant type of intervention in the studies was the direct and indirect speech therapy associated, which demonstrated effectiveness in the treatment of polyps on the vocal folds. Speech therapy for the treatment of vocal fold polyps demonstrated effectiveness between 30% and 100% of the analyzed studies, with better results in small and recent polyps.