NCT02859974

Treatment of Paradoxical Vocal Fold Motion Disorder (PVFMD) With a Form of Respiratory Retraining Technique

Treatment of Exertion Induced Paradoxical Vocal Fold Motion Disorder (PVFMD) With a Form of Respiratory Retraining Technique

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 15 (actual)
• Sponsor: Boston Medical Center · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 12 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

Paradoxical Vocal Fold Motion Disorder (PVFMD), otherwise known as vocal cord dysfunction (VCD) is a laryngeal breathing disorder that has several potential causes. In some individuals, exertion is the predominant trigger. PVFMD can present like an asthma attack, but asthma medication is ineffective in treating it. The effects of untreated PVFMD can be devastating, leading to harmful, invasive, and ineffective treatments over a period of years. Numerous anecdotal reports indicate that several behavioral techniques, may be surprisingly effective and even curative. However, data are lacking. The form of respiratory retraining technique tested in the current study educates people with PVFMD about breathing and teaches them a number of breathing exercises specially designed to restore normal breathing patterns. This case series study will use a dyspnea perception questionnaire, patient daily logs, and physiological measurements of heart rate and breathing to examine whether this form of therapy can improve exertion-induced PVFMD symptoms.

Conditions

• Paradoxical Vocal Fold Motion Disorder
• Vocal Cord Dysfunction

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Respiratory retraining for PVFMD	Patients serve as their own controls. During a three week baseline, participants will complete the Dyspnea Index (DI), and have their heart rate, Resp. minute volume and ETCO2 on days 1 and 21 (or on the day treatment commences). Participants will complete a "daily log" reporting their daily symptoms. This will serve as the baseline "pre"phase. Post 1 phase will include five individual therapy sessions teaching the respiratory retraining techniques over an estimated three week period. Post2 phase will comprise of a six week home practice phase. There will be four measuring points per participant: pre1/pre2 measurements on day 1 and 21 (or on the day therapy begins), post1 upon completing five therapy sessions and post 2 upon completion of the home practice phase.

Timeline

• Start date: 2015-09-01
• Primary completion: 2017-05-22
• Completion: 2017-05-22
• First posted: 2016-08-09
• Last updated: 2017-06-09

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States