Investigation of the relationship between vocal fold tension and electrical stimulation of the recurrent laryngeal nerve in a canine model

加州大学洛杉矶分校正在开发一种新的手术技术，用于完全丧失声音的人。这种疾病的原因通常是由于普遍称为“声带”的全部或部分瘫痪。我们感兴趣的是刺激肌肉的神经，这些肌肉拉伸“声带”，然后让我们振动我们的“声带”并说话。另一种外科技术目前正在用于治疗痉挛性发音困难的人。这是另一种鲜为人知的疾病，当我们不想让它振动时，它会导致“音箱”振动。因此，患者有一种紊乱的语言模式。加州大学洛杉矶分校的研究小组已经成功地应用了一种外科技术来治疗这种疾病，这种技术依赖于将刺激肌肉的神经从一个位置移动到另一个位置。被称为“选择性喉内收肌去神经-再神经支配”的这项技术已被证明是成功的，约70%的患者治疗。加州大学洛杉矶分校的研究小组现在希望运用他们的外科技术，通过喉返神经（RLN）的再支配来治疗声带麻痹;但在我们尝试这种治疗之前，我们需要更多地了解RLN是如何工作的。这是一项小型研究，使用的是狗，它将测量硬度的变化当对神经施加不同水平的电刺激时，声带的有效性（即有效性）。从这些数据我们将能够量化的关系，从而开发新的外科手术.如果成功的话，我们将能够使人患有瘫痪的'语音箱'再次发言.

UCLA are developing a new surgical technique for people who are suffering from the total loss of voice. The cause of this disease is often due to the total or partial paralysis of what is popularly called the 'vocal cord'. Our interest is in the nerve that stimulates the muscles that stretch the 'vocal cord', which then allows us to vibrate our 'voice box' and speak.Another surgical technique is currently in use to treat people suffering from spasmodic dysphonia. This is another little understood disease that cause the 'voice box' to vibrate when we do not want it to do so. Thus sufferers have a disturbed speech pattern. The team at UCLA has been successfully applying a surgical technique to cure this disease that relies on moving the nerve that stimulates the muscle, from one position to another. Known as 'Selective Laryngeal Adductor Denervation-Reinervation' this technique has been shown to be successful in about 70% of patients treated. The UCLA team now wish to apply their surgical skills to treating paralysis of the vocal fold by reinervation of the Recurrent Laryngeal Nerve (RLN); but before we attempt this treatment we need to understand more about how the RLN works.This is a small study, using dogs, which will measure the change in the stiffness (i.e. effectiveness) of the vocal fold when different levels of electrical stimulation are applied to the nerve. From this data we will be able to quantify the relationship, and thus develop the new surgical procedure.If successful then we will be able to make people suffering from paralysis of the 'voice box' to speak again.