The use of botulinum toxin in the treatment of adductor spasmodic dysphonia.

Abstract

Botulinum toxin injections have been used to treat 31 patients with adductor spasmodic dysphonia. Injections of 3.00-3.75 units of botulinum toxin were performed bilaterally into the thyroarytenoid muscle. This treatment significantly decreased the standard deviation of the fundamental frequency of the speech sample, indicating a reduction in the variability of pitch amongst patients. A total of 96% of patients' subjective diary reports showed an improvement with a median of 7 days to peak effect and a 5 week duration of peak effect.