Description

Patients with a systemic autoimmune disease may face to the occurrence of a dysphonia during the course of their disease. Specific etiologies must be sought for, such as "bamboo nodes", previously reported on small series, especially in patients with systemic erythematosus lupus, but also in other connective tissue disease such as Sharp syndrome, primary Sjögren disease and anti-synthetase syndrome. These nodes are made of fibrosis and immune complexes have been described. The treatment relies on vocal reeducation, oral steroids and sometimes surgery. Other irritative factors must be avoided such as stopping tobacco or treating a gastroesophageal reflux. Increasing the immunosuppressive regimen of the autoimmune disease has also been suggested, but the management is not codified due to the rarity of this condition. Rheumatoid nodules of the vocal cords have also been described in rheumatoid arthritis as well as cricoarytenoid joint arthritis. Granuloma of the vocal cords have also been reported in granulomatosis with polyangiitis. Other non specific etiologies should also be sought for such as mucosal ulcerations, submucous edema or hematoma, or vocal cord palsy.

Owing to the rare series of dysphonia reported in a context of systemic auto-immunity, the aim of this retrospective study is to provide an inventory of the specific and non specific lesions that can cause dysphonia in patients with systemic autoimmune diseases, with the assessment of potential diagnosis delays and therapeutics.

Main objective : To characterize the cord vocal lesions responsible for dysphonia in patients with systemic autoimmune diseases.

Secondary objectives :

• To assess the proportion of "bamboo nodes" compared to non specific lesions in patients with a systemic autoimmune disease suffering from dysphonia.
• To identify potential diagnosis delays.
• To describe the management of these lesions.
• To identify risk factors associated with these lesions.