Six year old Tong Tong likes to express his feelings by shouting when he encounters happy or unpleasant things. But recently, his mother suddenly found that his voice became hoarse. At first, she thought it was tonsil inflammation, but she found a small knot on the vocal cords when she went to the hospital for examination.

Vocal nodule is a kind of chronic laryngitis. It is a "nodule hyperplasia" at the edge of vocal cords on both sides, which hinders the closure of glottis, leading to low, coarse, hoarse voice, and even loss of voice. This situation is often seen in teachers, singers and other professional voice users, and is called "singer's summary" and "teacher's summary".

There are many reasons for vocal nodules. In addition to the above professional voice users, such as adverse stimulation (smoking and drinking), repeated respiratory infections (colds), gastroesophageal reflux, pharyngitis, etc., vocal nodules can be caused. Children like Tong Tong, who are used to shouting, shouting, and crying to vent their emotions, are also prone to vocal cord inflammation, Then progress to vocal nodules.

Therefore, once hoarseness is found, we should first change the inappropriate habit of using too much voice and too high voice. If the effect is not good, we should go to the hospital in time and never delay the treatment opportunity. Generally speaking, vocal nodules are mainly treated conservatively, such as voice silencing, steroid hormone, antibiotic aerosol inhalation, etc. If conservative treatment is ineffective, or hoarseness lasts for a long time, surgery can be performed.

Liu Ying, Head and Neck Surgery Department, Hunan Children's Hospital