Vocal Cord Botox Injections to Treat Asthma???

Yup... It's true...

A clinical trial is under way in Australia to see if botox injections to the vocal cords can improve the shortness of breath some asthmatics have. Though nobody disputes that asthma is a pulmonary problem, it is not uncommon that the vocal cords in asthmatics may be dysfunctional exacerbating the breathing problem.

What is meant by dysfunctional? It's when the vocal cords come together when the person is trying to breath. It is also known as paradoxical vocal cord motion, vocal cord dysfunction, or laryngospasm at its worst. Read more here.

Botox injections will paralyze the vocal cord muscles preventing the vocal cords from coming together thereby allowing easier airflow into the lungs... or at least that's the hope. This procedure is commonly performed in patients suffering from spasmodic dysphonia and the technique used to treat these patients would be the same as that proposed for asthmatics. Watch a video here on how this is performed.

What's the downside? Aspiration, breathy voice, and trouble swallowing are common but temporary side effects. Problem is if aspiration occurs in a patient with significant pulmonary compromise, it can potentially be devastating leading to asthma exacerbation and even pneumonia.

Read a news article regarding this clinical trial here.

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There are FOUR Different Types of Botox Available in the Market

Not many people know that there are FOUR different types of botox available and FDA approved for use in the United States.

The four botox products are as follows:

1) Botox by Allergan
2) Myobloc by Solstice Neurosciences
3) Dysport by Ipsen, Ltd
4) Xeomin by Merz

Obviously, Botox by Allergan was the first and most popular to the point where its product name "botox" is being used interchangeably to mean any botulinum toxin product; much like "Kleenex" is used to mean any tissue product to blow the nose with or "Google" to mean "to search for" even if you use Bing.

Although all four products are made from the Clostridium botulinum bacteria, the four products are isolated from different strains of bacteria, have different molecular structures, and attach to different parts of the nerve. What does this mean for the end-user? It means that dosages are not equivalent across product lines. In other words, 1 unit of botox is NOT the same as 1 unit of myobloc. Furthermore, duration of effect may be different as well as immune response.

Also as an FYI, Botox, Xeomin, and Dysport are Botulinum toxin type A whereas Myobloc is type B.

Dr. Chang performs botox injections for a variety of problems using Botox by Allergan.

At least for spasmodic dysphonia, the conversion factor is 52.3:1 Myobloc (BTX-B) to Botox (BTX-A)

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Botox for Chronic Cough

There was a new report in the May 2010 issue of Archives of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery that discussed the use of botox to achieve significant improvement, if not cure, in adult patients with a chronic cough due to sensory neuropathy. In this report titled "Use of Botulinum Toxin Type A for Chronic Cough: A Neuropathic Model", there are 4 case studies that were presented. The results they reported stated that cough relief occurred after a median of 7 injections with a mean dose of 4.0 Units per treatment session for a mean duration of 25.7 months. To watch a video of how the botox is injected into the voicebox to treat chronic cough, click here or watch below (the procedure is the same as that performed for spasmodic dysphonia).

Of note, this is the 2nd report on use of botox for chronic cough, the first was published in 2007 in ENT Journal and was done on kids. Click here to read that report.

I tend to use botox as a last resort when other medical management strategies have failed. Hidden triggers of cough including reflux, allergies, and asthma need to be addressed prior to consideration of botox. Often, I'll give a trial of neuropathic medications if laryngeal sensory neuropathy is suspected.

To read more about chronic cough, click here.

To read the actual report on use of botox to treat chronic cough, click here.

Botox is performed by Dr. Chang every Friday afternoon for spasmodic dysphonia, laryngospasm, as well as chronic cough! We also use botox for migraines, facial wrinkles, and torticollis.

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