To whom it may concern,

I would be more than happy to be listed as laryngologist with a special

interest in spasmodic dysphonia not only with the Botox injections for

which we have a regular clinic in Adelaide but also for the Isshiki

procedure.

I have had personal communication with Prof Isshiki and we have modified

his technique somewhat. The results of the procedure have been extremely

gratifying but the operation is not for everyone. With spasmodic

dysphonia, as you are probably aware, some patients suffer specifically

from spasm and others have a tremor which can be unmasked with Botox.

The patients with a tremor I believe are probably unsuitable for Isshiki

technique as the tremor is made worse by the Isshiki technique and in

some ways they are not a lot better off. With the patients however who

suffer from pure spasm, the results are extremely gratifying. The

patients however have to understand that their voice will be breathy

afterwards and they will lack some power of projection.

Nevertheless most patients who undergo the procedure prefer to have a

slightly breathy voice but with good fluency.

As far as my professional status is concerned, I enclose a brief CV

which is:

MBBS (Adel) 1962, FRACS (London) 1969 and FRCS 1971. I was a Visiting

Senior ENT Surgeon at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital from 1971-1993, being

Head of the Department for about ten years and I am now am an Honorary

ENT Surgeon to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. I operate entirely at St

Andrews Hospital, Adelaide, which is a private hospital but I run a

regular Voice Clinic at my Rooms in conjunction with Jan Hooper, Speech

Therapist, and I have a joint Botox Clinic with my colleague Mr John

Ling, another laryngologist and Dr Joe Frasca, Neurologist. Originally

we did have the Botox and Voice Clinic at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital

but we have for reasons of efficiency and patients’ demand, moved the

clinic entirely to 32 King William Road Wayville 5032. Ph: 82724688.

We are more than happy to see both insured and uninsured patients and

the combined Botox Clinic is run every one to two months by demand.

Patients who have done well with Botox but are tired of repeated four to

six monthly injections and who are mainly spasm, are offered the Isshiki

Type I midline procedure.

I do trust this information is of help to you and I would be only too

happy to discuss this with you at any time.

Yours sincerely,

 

NEVILLE L. MINNIS"

Thanks for this very interesting information. I also appreciated you sharing the site on Laryngeal Framework Surgery about a year or so ago. This type of information is educational and I took it as enlarging the "body-of-work" on this Bulletin Board rather than an ad or promo.

Seems your doctor was quite clear about who such a surgery would help and who it wouldn't so (for me) that gives his comments additional validity. Amazingly, at the Arizona Symposium, I met someone who has had SD for many years who came to the conference, specifically to meet Dr. Berke in hopes of having SLAD surgery. After the presentation, this patient was motivated to get the surgery but this patient has very mild catches and mostly tremors (to my lay person's ear, anyway). Dr. Berke also was very clear that the SLAD surgery is designed to assist AD patients without tremors. That patient may have missed that information so it is good to see it in writing, regarding this procedure, as your doctor has done.

I'm envious that you Down Under and our friends up North of the US border have a national healthcare system. Seems alot of our SD struggles in the US have to do with insurance. (All different kinds of insurance and they don't much speak to each other!!) I went to my new otolaryngologist today and he looked at my insurance card and said, "oh this is good - you have something that we take so we don't have to jump through hoops to get you treated." Interesting comments coming from a specialist. Sad but true.

I really appreciate you sharing this information and the extra emphasis that each patient needs to make his/her own decision.