An Acquired Anterior Glottic Web Model by Heat Injury with a Laryngoscopic Approach in a Rabbit

Abstract

Acquired anterior glottic webs (AGW) can lead to abnormally elevated phonatory pitch, dysphonia, and airway obstruction requiring urgent intervention. Herein, we construct a novel AGW rabbit model using heat injury by a laryngoscopic way. A primary study was conducted to identify the injury depth in rabbits’ vocal folds (VFs) by graded heat energy and the heat energy for the incurrence of epithelial layer, lamina propria and muscular layer injury was 25, 30 and 35 W, respectively. Then four different models were designed based on the depth and degree of the injury to determine the optimal procedure for AGW formation. Morphological features, vibratory capacity and histopathological features of the AGW were respectively evaluated. The procedure for conferring the heat injury to the depth of muscular layer and extent of anterior commissure and middle part of bilateral VFs showed the highest success rate of AGW formation (95%, 19/20). For its low cost, effectiveness, and stability for AGW formation, the heat-injury rabbit model with a laryngoscopic approach may provide a new platform for testing novel anti-adhesion materials and bioengineered therapies.