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.摘要：本研究旨在通过回顾现有文献，验证言语治疗（speech therapy）用于治疗声带息肉（vocal fold polyps）的有效性。研究通过PublicMedline平台、Scopus数据库、Science Direct数据库、护理学与联合健康文献累积索引（Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature）及Web of Science数据库开展文献检索，随后对文献进行严格预筛选与深度分析。本研究纳入以言语治疗作为声带息肉治疗手段的原创性研究，无出版日期或语言限制；排除仅针对声带息肉采用其他治疗方式的研究，以及仅在喉部手术后才应用言语治疗的文献。本次检索共获取905篇文献，但经过筛选流程后，最终仅9篇文献被纳入研究样本。纳入的文献均通过预先制定的研究方案完成完整分析与登记。本研究分析的文献存在方法学质量欠佳、言语治疗方案与操作流程缺乏标准化的问题，且研究类型以回顾性病例系列为主。纳入的研究样本在受试者数量、病变类型及息肉类型方面均存在差异。研究中主要采用的干预方式为直接与间接言语治疗联合应用，该方案在声带息肉治疗中展现出有效性。在本次分析的研究中，言语治疗用于声带息肉治疗的有效率介于30%至100%之间，针对小型且新发的息肉可获得更优的治疗效果。