Objective Bamboo node (BN) of vocal folds is a rare disease which is mostly associated with autoimmune diseases and always involves women as reported in literature. The purpose of this study is to investigate the clinical characteristics and the treatments in a series of BN cases.

Methods We retrospectively collected and reviewed clinical information of all patients who presented bamboo nodes by fibreoptic laryngoscopy from 2011 to 2020 in our hospital, including the demographic information, clinical symptoms, associated autoimmune diseases, voice abuse, treatments, and outcomes. Patients were followed up periodically at clinics with fibreoptic laryngoscopy and/or voice recovery evaluation using the self-assessed voice visual analog scale (VAS).

Results Totally 14 patients were diagnosed with BN and were included in the study. BN involved both women (8/14, 57.1%) and men (6/14, 42.9%). Bilateral lesions were found in 13 patients (92.9%). The most common symptom of BN was hoarseness (100%). Ten (71.4%) of 14 patients experienced voice abuse. Thirteen (92.9%) of them were concomitant with autoimmunity disease, and received medication therapy for the underlying autoimmune diseases; one patient received anti-acid treatment for the gastroesophageal reflux disease. Voice rests were performed in all patients. Voice recovered completely in 3 cases (21.4%), improved remarkably in 8 cases (57.1%), improved slightly in 1 case (7.1%), and no improvement in 2 cases (14.3%).

Conclusions BNs are mostly associated with autoimmune disease and vocal abuse. It may occur in both females and males. Conservative treatment for the underlying autoimmune diseases and vocal rest are beneficial to voice recovery in most of the patients, and can be used as the first choice of treatment.

Key words: bamboo nodes, autoimmune disease, hoarseness, voice abuse, conservative treatment