Sadia Akbar is a dedicated Medical Speech-Language Pathologist with over 10 years of experience in clinical practice, academia, and research, specializing in voice disorders, neurogenic communication disorders, dysphagia, and cleft palate rehabilitation. She is currently a Clinical Instructor at the University of Nizwa, Oman, leading the establishment of the country's first BS (Hons) Speech-Language Pathology program while also collaborating with hospitals and organizations like Smile Train for cleft palate rehabilitation. Previously, she worked as a Consultant Speech Pathologist at Doctors Hospital, Pakistan, pioneering Botox-voice therapy for Adductor Spasmodic Dysphonia and conducting FEES assessments for dysphagia. She has held key administrative roles, including Assistant Director at the Government Special Education Department, Pakistan, where she developed disability services policies, a mobile app, and a helpline (1162). Her extensive experience spans military, teaching, and private hospital settings, focusing on clinical training, curriculum development, and research-driven interventions. Passionate about advancing speech-language pathology, she actively contributes to program development and patient-centered care.
Sadia Akbar’s research interests include voice disorders, neurogenic communication disorders, dysphagia management, cleft palate rehabilitation, inclusive education, and speech-language pathology curriculum development. She focuses on innovative therapies, assistive technologies, and evidence-based interventions to improve patient outcomes and advance speech therapy education.
Effectiveness Of Voice Therapy After Botox Treatment Versus Botox Injection Only For Treating Adductor Spasmodic Dysphonia
Introduction: Spasmodic Dysphonia is a neurological voice issue that includes "fits" of the vocal folds bringing on interferences of speech and influencing the voice quality. SD can bring about the voice to separate or to have a tight, strangled, or choked quality. The study examines the efficacy of voice therapy after Botox treatment in bilateral adductor spasmodic dysphonia. As per literature review voice therapy is more effective in AdSD patient after Botox injection treatment. The aim and objective of the study was to determine the effectiveness of voice therapy after BOTOX treatment versus Botox injection only for treating AdSD.
Material and Methods, this was a clinical trial, Quasi Experimental study. This Study was done in 6 months after synopsis approval. February 15th 2016 August 15th 2016. Sample size of 7 patients was considered as per literature review. Patients was divided into 2 groups. Patients in both the groups will receive Botox Injection as standard treatment. Group A: Patients in this group was treated with BOTOX injection only. Including 4 members. Group B: Patients in this group was treated with Voice therapy after Botox Injection including 3 members. Inclusion Criteria was to include both genders diagnosed with idiopathic bilateral adductor spasmodic dysphonia.
Data Analysis, the procedure of injecting Botox was done by the ENT surgeon Dr. Khurshid Alam and voice therapy was given by researcher herself and all the information regarding the demographic and voice data was gathered by using VHI (Appendix B). Improvement regarding the outcomes of the treatment will be measured through comparison of result of pre and post treatment assessment. Data entry and analysis was done by using SPSS 21. Descriptive statistic was used to report Continuous variables and presented by using mean ± SD. Frequency was reported for categorical demographic variable i.e. gender. To find out inter group differences between means of total VHI and subscale its subscale scores, paired-sample t test was conducted. T- test was employed to find out if Botox plus voice therapy is more effective than Botox alone with posttest results.
Conclusion: Spasmodic Dysphonia was dealt successfully. The inborn laryngeal muscle fits are diminished by Botox. Infusion while outward hyper useful vocal practices are treated with voice treatment. Although the researcher faced the limitation of rare and small sample size, and short time duration of study and could not able to get critical statically proved result.