A PRELIMINARY-REPORT ON TREATMENT OF CONTACT GRANULOMA WITH STEROID INJECTIONS

This preliminary report discusses the effects of intralesion local ste roid injection for treatment of contact granulomas. Four men between t he ages of 39 and 59 years and one woman age 33 years, who were diagno sed with contact granulomas and who failed previous management attempt s, are discussed. Intralesion steroid injections of triamcinolone were completed in an otolaryngology outpatient clinic. Results showed that the size of contact granulomas was reduced with injection of the ster oid in all five patients. Contact granuloma was completely eliminated in one patient. Furthermore, all patients were clinically asymptomatic 3 to 4 months postinjection, although only two of the five granulomas were totally eliminated at the time of longterm follow-up. Clinical i mprovement was confirmed by direct laryngoscopic evaluation of contact granuloma size 4 months following completion of the steroid injection s. A speech-language pathologist's knowledge of this technique may pre vent patients with granuloma from enduring protracted voice treatment that is historically less effective. The speech-language pathologist's responsibilities include determining patient candidacy for intralesio n steroid injection, assisting the otolaryngologist with endoscopic in terpretation of the lesion pre-and postintervention, and tracking the clinical outcome of the procedure.