Flaring of Ala Nasi: A Reliable Diagnostic Sign for Abductor Spasmodic Dysphonia

A prospective double blinded controlled study was done to assess the relation between flaring of ala nasi and abductor spasms in abductor spasmodic dysphonia. All the 24 cases of clinically and stroboscopically proven cases of abductor spasmodic dysphonia were found to have visible and easily detectable flaring of ala nasi during the abductor spasm. Among the control group of 24 dysphonia patients, only two cases showed this sign. Both were cases of vocal nodules. Rest of the vocal nodule cases in the study did not show this sign. Even the two cases which demonstrated this particular finding had the ala nasi flaring almost persistently during the phonation, as opposed to the constantly recurring pattern found in abductor spasmodic dysphonia. The study found definite association between the clinical sign of flaring of ala nasi and abductor spasmodic dysphonia. Objective: To study the reliability of flaring of ala nasi as a diagnostic sign in abductor spasmodic dysphonia.