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All have been able to resume their performance schedules. Surgeries using the green-light emitting angiolytic KTP (potassium, titanyl, phosphate) laser have been performed by Voice Center surgeons to repair overuse injuries in such famed singers as Adele, Steven Tyler, and Lionel Richie. Even very young vocalists can experience damage trying to keep up with demanding vocal training schedules: Some collegiate programs require six hours of singing practice per day. The types of damage such stress can produce include ruptured blood vessels and the development of hard calluses called nodules or soft growths called polyps. Overuse can also damage the surface and underlying tissues of the vocal cords, a pair of smooth membranes technically referred to as vocal folds, causing the voice to deteriorate. “People are living longer and working longer,” says Hillman, “and the aged voice can be weak and hard to understand.” This number will undoubtedly rise as the population ages. Background VocalsĪpproximately 7.5 million people in the United States suffer from voice problems, according to the National Institutes of Health. Laryngology is thus becoming a sophisticated, science-driven practice that is employing, and exploring, a range of technological options. Casey Professor of Laryngeal Surgery at HMS, and Robert Hillman, an HMS professor of surgery, the center has generated new ideas by bringing together the work of experts in disciplines from physics and cell biology to chemical engineering and mobile technologies. Co-directed by Steven Zeitels, the Eugene B. Many of these advances, such as the angiolytic KTP laser used for Egan, have grown from the work of HMS researchers, especially those in the Center for Laryngeal Surgery and Voice Rehabilitation at Massachusetts General Hospital, more commonly known as the MGH Voice Center. "I was twenty-four hours away from going down a completely different path,” says Egan.Īs with Egan, patients with voice problems now have more, and better, treatment options. It would likely have cured the cancer, but it also would have brought pain and suffering-and the possibility of permanent voice loss.
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They had offered him radiation, the standard accepted therapy for this type of cancer. He was fortunate he underwent an innovative type of laser surgery developed at HMS, a surgical option his doctors in North Carolina weren’t aware of. “I understand the importance of having a voice.”Įgan’s voice is fine now, with the deep and resonant tone one might expect from a tall, sturdily built man. “When my father needed me most, I couldn’t talk,” says Egan. Again, Egan was mute he had not yet regained his voice. A few days after Egan learned he had cancer, his father died. The diagnostic biopsy, taken a few days earlier, had rendered him voiceless, so he had to sit silently as his diagnosis was delivered. Roger Egan remembers the precise date he was diagnosed with vocal cord cancer: March 8, 2012. Resources for those affected by War in Ukraine.Celebrating 50 Years of Diversity and Inclusion.Research Departments, Centers, Initiatives and more.