Dr Anthony Fauci’s voice has changed! But he’s saying the same things…

During these Covid-19 times, one of the most recognisable voices on TV has been that of Dr Anthony Fauci. Dr Fauci is a physician and immunologist. He has been the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984 and served under 6 US Presidents. He is a key member of the White House’s Coronavirus Task Force.

During the early days of the Pandemic, Dr Fauci’s voice often sounded strained and raspy. Most people simply put it down to his hectic schedule and long hours of work. In actual fact, Dr Fauci had a vocal cord polyp. This required surgery and also 2 weeks of voice rest following surgery – something that Dr Fauci did not adhere to!

Earlier this week, I a patient with a similar condition. He was hoarse and the poor voice was getting in the way of his work. I undertook flexible laryngoscopy to examine his larynx and the picture below shows what I found – a growth on his left vocal cord.

The precise term for this lesion is an intracordal vocal cord cyst. The only way to treat this is to surgical remove it. We undertake a procedure called Endoscopic Laryngeal Microsurgery (ELMS) which is performed under general anaesthesia.

The picture below are the operative images before and after surgical removal

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