Symptoms evaluated by a Laryngologist

• Change in voice including hoarseness, breathy voice, decreased loudness, loss of range, voice breaks, and vocal tremor.
• Pain with talking or singing
• Difficulty swallowing such as choking while eating or drinking, regurgitation of food, or food getting stuck in the throat when swallowing.
• Pain with swallowing
• Persistent throat pain
• Difficulty breathing or noisy breathing
• Chronic cough
• Cancer of the throat

Common diagnoses

• Vocal fold (vocal cord) lesions:
  • Cancer of the larynx
  • Leukoplakia
  • Laryngitis
  • Nodules
  • Polyps
  • Cysts
  • Papilloma
  • Granulomas
  • Vocal fold scarring
  • Vocal fold hemorrhage
  • Varices (enlarged blood vessels)
• Other voice disorders
  • Vocal fold paresis/paralysis
  • Spasmodic Dysphonia
  • Scarring and narrowing of the vocal folds and airway
  • Laryngopharyngeal Reflux
  • Chronic Cough
  • Age-related voice changes
  • Paradoxical Vocal Fold Motion (Vocal cord dysfunction)
  • Laryngospasm
• Disorders of the esophagus
  • Zenker’s Diverticulum
  • Cricopharyngeal Dysfunction
  • Esophageal stenosis
  • Radiation-related swallowing disorders
• Neurologic disorders affecting speech and swallowing such as Parkinson’s disease, ALS, or stroke.
• Airway stenosis: Supraglottic stenosis, Glottic Stenosis, Subglottic Stenosis, Tracheal Stenosis

Treatments offered by Dr. Bergeron

• Evaluation for and identifying the cause of hoarseness, airway and swallowing disorders.
• Care for the professional voice.
• Multidisciplinary management of voice disorders and laryngeal cancer.
• Referrals for voice therapy or swallow therapy with a speech language pathologist when appropriate.
• Office-based procedures:
  • In-office vocal fold injection augmentation for paralysis, paresis or bowing
  • Botox injections for selected laryngeal diseases such as spasmodic dysphonia
  • In-office steroid injections of some laryngeal lesions or scarring
  • In-office laryngeal biopsy
  • Flexible Endoscopic Evaluation of Swallowing
• Procedures in the operating room:
  • Phonomicrosurgery for vocal fold lesions requiring surgical treatment
  • Laser treatment of benign and malignant vocal fold lesions
  • Conservative surgery for laryngeal cancer: Endoscopic treatment for early stage disease and open surgery for later stage disease.
  • Arytenoid repositioning surgery for vocal fold paralysis
  • Medialization thyroplasty for vocal fold paralysis
  • Reinnervation of the paralyzed vocal fold
  • Dilation of airway stenosis
  • Laryngotracheal reconstruction
  • Tracheal resection
  • Cricotracheal resection
  • Endoscopic treatment of Zenker’s diverticulum
  • Transcervical treatment of Zenker’s diverticulum
  • Esophageal dilation
  • Endoscopic cricopharyngeal myotomy
  • Transcervical cricopharyngeal myotomy
  • Selective Laryngeal Adductor Dennervation and Reinnervation – The Berke Procedure for Spasmodic Dysphonia
  • Placement of tracheoesophageal puncture (TEP) and prosthesis for tracheoesophageal speech after laryngectomy