Disorders Treated

Bastian Voice Institute is a full-service laryngology practice that has a particular focus on and experience with a variety of voice, swallowing, airway, and coughing disorders. Below is a list of disorders treated at BVI:

Vocal Cord Nodules

Example of vocal nodules

Vocal Fold Injuries

Lesions (abnormal tissue) on the surface tissue of the vocal folds, typically caused by vocal overuse. These include:

  • Nodules (pictured)
  • Polyps
  • Capillary ectasia
  • Epidermoid cysts
  • Glottic sulcus
  • Smoker’s polyps

Mucus Retention Cysts

Other Benign Lesions and Conditions of the Larynx

Lesions or conditions that arise in the larynx but, unlike vocal fold injuries, usually without correlation to voice use. These include:

  • Contact or intubation granulomas
  • Mucus retention cysts (pictured)
  • Saccular cysts
  • Laryngopharynx acid reflux
  • Laryngitis

T1 Cancer

Cancer of the Larynx and Pharynx

A malignant growth or tumor caused by abnormal, uncontrolled cell division. Local tumors are described as one of the following:

  • T1, earliest and smallest (pictured)
  • T2
  • T3
  • T4

Recurrent Respiratory Papillomatosis

Recurrent Respiratory Papillomatosis (RRP)

Wart-like lesions in the larynx or trachea, caused by chronic infection with HPV (human papillomavirus).

Spasmodic Dysphonia

Neurological disorder in which muscles of the larynx spasm, either choking off or straining the voice or else making it breathy or drop abruptly to a whisper mid-word or sentence:

  • Adductory (AD): chokes off or strains
  • Abductory (AB): breathy or whispery (pictured)

Unilateral Paralysis

Vocal fold paralysis

Neurological disorder in which one or both vocal folds are paralyzed, causing a weak, breathy voice or difficulty breathing, respectively. Variants include:

  • Unilateral paralysis (pictured)
  • Bilateral paralysis
  • Paresis (weakness, or partial paralysis)

Cricopharyngeus Dysfunction

Swallowing Dysfunction

We focus on mouth and throat-related swallowing difficulties, from poor muscular propulsion of food material or from failure of other muscles to relax and let food material pass through:

  • Presbyphagia (propulsion)
  • Cricopharyngeus dysfunction (non-relaxation), with/without Zenker’s diverticulum (pictured)

Inflammation: Wegeners Granulomatosis

Airway Stenosis

Stenosis (narrowing) of the airway at the vocal folds, just below them, or down into the trachea can lead to noisy breathing, reduced exercise tolerance, etc. Causes may include:

  • Scarring: post-intubation injury
  • Scarring: prior tracheotomy
  • Inflammation: Wegener’s granulomatosis (pictured)

Sensory Neuropathic Cough

Sensory Neuropathic Cough

Variant of chronic cough discovered by Dr. Bastian years ago. A neurogenic cough, often mistakenly thought to be the result of asthma, acid reflux, allergy, or stress/psychological factors.

Non-organic Disorder

Non-Organic Disorders

Disorders that arise not from dysfunction of the mechanism itself but instead from how the mechanism is used. These disorders can affect:

  • Voice
  • Breathing (pictured)
  • Coughing

Check out our photo gallery of previous patient cases. For a more extensive review of disorders we have treated at BVI, go to our educational multimedia website Laryngopedia.com.