Bilateral abductor palsy is treated by tracheostomy or any lateralization procedure. Kashima's surgery is a lateralization procedure introduced by Kashima in 1989.

To evaluate the effect of Kashima's surgery using subjective measures of breathing quality in patients with bilateral abductor palsy.

This is a prospective study with 31 patients (3 men, 28 women) who underwent Kashima's surgery between January 2013 and December 2015 in the Laryngology department. Subjective evaluation was done by using dyspnea index score in the pre- and postoperative periods. Dyspnea index score is calculated based on answers given to a 7-point questionnaire and assessed by Likert scale, a self-assessment scale. For each point, the scores range from 0 to 3, and the maximum score is 21. Patients who already had tracheotomy were given a score of 14. This score was calculated again using the same questionnaire in the pretracheostomy scenario.

There is significant reduction in the dyspnea index score with a median reduction score of 9 and improvement of quality-of-life after Kashima's surgery.

Dyspnea index score is easy to administer. Considering the cost of treatment and high success rate of decannulation, it is obvious that Kashima's surgery is effective and affordable in bilateral abductor palsy.

Issac ME. Effect of Kashima's Surgery in Bilateral Abductor Vocal Cord Palsy. Int J Phonosurg Laryngol 2017;7(1):10-12.