Reinke's edema

• Reinke 's edema of the vocal cord
• Reinke 's edema of the vocal fold

The Reinke 's edema is edema of the vocal fold edge in the so-called Reinke's space, a slit-type space between the epithelium and the underlying connective tissue. It comes to a typical glassy -lobed swelling of the vocal cords different proportions. Depending on the findings laryngoscopically size you can observe a turning up of edema with the breath stream.

The Reinke 's edema was first described in 1891 by Hajek. The Reinke's space (and its edema) is named after its discoverer, the German anatomist Friedrich Berthold Reinke ( 1862-1919 ) and in 1895 was first described by him.

Clinic and deposits

This affects mostly women in middle age (4th - 6th decade). Typical symptoms are: decrease in mean speaking voice location due to the increase in mass of the vocal cords, the voice sounds hoarse rough - ( dysphonia ). With increasing edema a aphonia ( loss of voice ) is possible by the narrowing of the glottis can have trouble breathing as an additional complication. The differential diagnosis can impress ( with contralateral Contact swelling) as Reinke's edema large, broad-based vocal fold polyps.

Cause

The cause in the strict sense is not clear; is striking that many patients with long-standing abuse of nicotine and other noxious substances, especially with reflux affected. Also, a voice stress appears to play a role. According to recent studies, an increased deposition of hyaluronic acid in the Stimmlippenepithel seems to play a role.

Therapy

• Parking of toxicants
• Microsurgical removal ( "stripping " ) sa phonosurgery
• May be additional voice therapy after surgery (for example, hyper- functional vocalization )