Assessment of Acoustic Voice Parameters After Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion

Background Anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) is a surgical treatment approach for cervical spine diseases. Alteration in voice quality is a commonly encountered concern after perilaryngeal neck surgeries. Vocal cord paralysis is a known complication of ACDF. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effect of ACDF on acoustic voice parameters and to compare ACDF with posterior cervical discectomy and fusion (PCDF). Methodology In this study, we investigated 52 patients admitted to the hospital with symptoms related to cervical spinal cord compression and underwent spine surgery in the Neurosurgery Clinic (26 underwent ACDF and 26 underwent PCDF). For standardization, 25 healthy age and gender-matched volunteers were evaluated as the control group. The voices of the patients were analyzed digitally preoperatively and at first and third months postoperatively. As acoustic parameters, jitter, shimmer, basal frequency, and normalized noise energy were recorded. All patients were examined preoperatively and postoperatively for laryngeal pathology and were asked to fill the Voice Handicap Index-10 (VHI-10). Results The changes in four of the five acoustic parameters from baseline to postoperative first-month assessment in the ACDF group were significant (p < 0.05). These parameters almost approached normal values in the analysis performed at three months. In the PCDF group, no significant differences were seen in the acoustic analysis of the patients in comparison to the preoperative and the first and third-month assessments. The VHI-10 values were not significantly different among the patients who underwent ACDF or PCDF or control patients at any postoperative time point. Conclusions Our study demonstrated that voice parameters in patients who underwent ACDF worsened significantly after the surgery compared with patients who underwent PCDF; however, these changes recovered within three months postoperatively. The possible causes for these findings include the retraction of the vagus and the recurrent laryngeal nerve, postoperative edema of strap muscles, intubation trauma to the vocal folds, and other laryngeal structures.