When a child's vocal cords are paralyzed, parents and doctors face a tough question: will the voice come back? A new analysis of 33 studies suggests a nerve test called laryngeal electromyography (LEMG) can help answer that.
LEMG measures electrical activity in the muscles of the voice box. The test was 82% sensitive at predicting recovery, meaning it correctly identified most children who would get better. Children with normal electrical signals were more than 5 times as likely to recover as those without.
The analysis included children from day 1 of life to 18 years old. But the results come with important caveats. The confidence intervals were wide, meaning the true accuracy could be lower. Only 5 studies were combined for the main analysis, and the studies were observational, so cause and effect cannot be proven.
Still, for a condition where predicting recovery has been difficult, LEMG offers a useful clue. More research is needed before it becomes standard practice.