Over the course of a year, a man’s voice grew progressively more hoarse and his speech became shrill and grating, but he didn’t know why. Upon examining the man, doctors discovered the reason: fungus was growing in his throat. He appeared otherwise healthy when he went to a clinic in Pennsylvania that treats conditions of the head and neck. The man, in his 60s, said that he’d developed progressively worsening hoarseness and shortness of breath over the past 12 months. His physician had treated him with inhaled corticosteroids, a treatment for asthma, but his symptoms hadn’t improved.
To examine the man’s vocal folds and larynx, the hollow ‘voice box’ that holds the vocal folds, doctors used a high-speed imaging technique called videostroboscopy. This exam revealed severe swelling in the tissue lining the patient’s throat, and this swelling had caused the airway to narrow. The doctors also performed a biopsy on tissue from the man’s larynx and confirmed that the tissue was swollen, irregular and ‘friable’ to the touch, meaning it tore easily.