A Study of incidence and etiopathology of vocal cord paralysis.

Vocal cord paralysis is not a disease per se but is considered as a sign of underlying disease process that may be congenital or acquired, unilateral or bilateral, sudden or gradual in onset, and may occur at any age from cradle to the grave.This study vas carried out to know the incidence and etiopathology of vocal cord paralysis.The incidence was 0.42% or 42 per ten thousand new patients seen. Most patients presented in the 5th and 6th decades (77.2%). Males outnumbered females in the ratio of 3:1. The most common symptom of vocaL cord paralysis was hoarseness of voice alone(83.6%.).Onset of symptoms was gradual in 60% of cases.Left vocal cord was almost twice more commonly (61.9%)involved than the right one(38.1%).Idiopalhic group constituted 38.18% of patients followed by neoplaslic diseases 29.09oc.