Project Summary
Vocal fold scarring results in voice dysfunction and decreased quality of life for patients. With
around 20 million people impacted by voice disorders each year, and vocal fold scar a common
cause of this dysphonia with few effective treatments available, new, novel treatment
approaches are needed. Currently, one of the primary challenges to treatment is wound healing
optimization in the dynamic, delicate vocal fold multi-layer structure. Although surgical repair
can be employed for vocal fold scar treatment, current surgical techniques often result in
subsequent scarring. Adjuvant local therapeutic delivery, most commonly with corticosteroids, is
often used to improve wound healing; however, limited access to the vocal folds generally
restricts providers to a single therapeutic injection at the time of surgery. In-office procedures
exist for subsequent therapeutic vocal fold injections, though these are uncomfortable for
patients and increase treatment costs. Oral corticosteroids are not an effective alternative, as
research has found them less effective than local application and with more side effects.
Additional novel biologics have been proposed for vocal fold scar treatment, though these are
also limited by similar delivery problems to corticosteroids. We have found that a novel,
injectable encapsulated implant can deliver corticosteroids over time either in a sustained
release fashion or in a laser-light activated approach effectively for up to eight months in a
leporine eye preclinical model. In prior work, we found minimal immune response or
unanticipated drug leakage from the injectable implant in the leporine eye. In parallel, we have
optimized vocal fold biomechanical quantification matched to histology after vocal fold injuries.
In the first aim, we will optimize our injectable implant for the vocal folds and measure any local
immune response in healthy leporine vocal folds. In the second aim, we will employ the implant
in a vocal fold injury model to quantify its healing impacts compared to no treatment or
traditional single corticosteroid injections. This work lays the foundation for optimized, dose
controllable therapeutic delivery to the vocal folds and improved drug delivery.