[Medialization of the paralyzed vocal cord by cartilage chips and "wing door thyroplasty"].

Unilateral recurrent laryngeal nerve paralysis with atrophic vocal cord and persisting glottic insufficiency as well as hemiparesis of the larynx caused by lesions of the upper parts of the vagal nerve have to be managed surgically. Instead of the nowadays often applied Teflon-injection the authors prefer the following techniques of surgical medialization. 1. Medial shifting of the paralyzed vocal cord by subperiostal implantations of autogenous cartilage through a window in the thyroid ala. 2. "Wing door thyroplasty" with medialization of a door like part of the thyroid cartilage which is locked by a cartilage chip in the desired position. The results of the surgical treatment of 19 patients (13 paresis of the recurrent laryngeal nerve, 6 lesions of the upper part of the vagal nerve) showed an obvious improvement with regard to voice and aspiration. There have been no postoperative complications. These methods can be an alternative to Teflon-injections.