Reflux Symptom Index (RSI), Videolaryngostroboscopy and Voice Analysis: A Triad of Non-Invasive Tools to Study Treatment Outcomes of Laryngopharyngeal Reflux Disease (LPRD).

Abstract

Study post treatment improvement of Laryngopharyngeal Reflux Disease (LPRD) using non-invasive tools of Reflux symptom index (RSI), Reflux finding score (RFS) grading of videolaryngostroboscopy (VLS) and voice analysis. This study from December 2020 to April 2022 enrolled 100 adults with complaints suggestive of reflux symptoms and having Reflux Symptom Index (RSI) more than 13. All patients underwent VLS along with voice analysis. VLS findings were graded using Reflux Finding Score (RFS). Patients were advised for lifestyle modifications and proton pump inhibitors for 8 weeks when post treatment RSI, VLS and voice analyses were again documented. The age range was from 18 to 75 years. Males predominated. Lifestyle modification compliance was seen in 85% of the patients. We found a significant association (P = 0.001) for difference in pretreatment and posttreatment for both Reflux Symptom Index (RSI) parameters & Reflux Finding Score Index (RFS) parameters. Voice analysis pre and post treatment showed a significant association (P = 0.001) for fundamental frequency, jitter, shimmer, harmonic-to-noise ratio and maximum phonation time. The gold standard of diagnosis of LPRD is 24 h pH monitoring but has many false negatives and false positives due to intermittent reflux and inaccurate probe placement. This costly, time consuming and invasive procedure is not widely available amongst our speciality. Excellent visualisation of VLS allowed accurate RFS calculation. Voice analysis permitted early diagnosis of LPRD induced hoarseness before it became clinically significant. It also documented the treatment outcome. We conclude that an 8-weeks proton pump inhibitor treatment combined with lifestyle modification resulted in a significant improvement in the parameters of the non-invasive tools of RSI and RFS and voice analysis.