Improving clinical diagnosis of recurrent respiratory papillomatosis
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Recurrent Respiratory Papillomatosis: Towards improved clinical diagnosis through signal processing analysis of voice recordings
IRAS ID
235358
Contact name
Gaetano Di Caterina
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Strathclyde
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 9 months, 30 days
Research summary
Some children develop wart-like growths in their airway which need to be removed surgically. These wart-like growths are recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (RRP) and are associated with specific strains of the Human Papilloma Virus. Most of these children go on to develop their own immunity to these warts but in the interim period they need support as the RRP can grow over the airway. While rare, this is a life threatening condition. Treatment for RRP usually involves removal of the growths under general anaesthetic with some children requiring repeated procedures until self-immunity develops. Children who have hoarseness or breathing problems are usually referred to the Paediatric Voice Clinic at the Royal Hospital for Children where they are assessed by a Laryngologist (ENT Surgeon) and a Speech and Language Therapist (SLT). This assessment routinely involves taking an audio recording of the voice along with awake laryngoscopy when a child is able to tolerate this. Where a child is not able to tolerate this (e.g. usually in children between 18 months and around 6 years of age) they are admitted for general anaesthetic to check the status of the larynx so that differential diagnosis can be made of RRP over other benign conditions.
Many of these children present with similar symptoms as children with other benign conditions such as vocal fold nodules or cysts. Recently the clinical team have observed that in children with RRP there is a noticeable difference in voice quality with the voice sounding harsher in RRP than other benign pathologies. This pilot project will investigate ways of identifying when a child has RRP through detailed analysis of existing voice recordings from the voice clinic service using the expertise of University of Strathclyde's Signal Processing Team.REC name
West of Scotland REC 1
REC reference
18/WS/0059
Date of REC Opinion
7 Apr 2018
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion