UPMC Voice Center: A Unique Resource

Dedicated to the evaluation and care of voice disorders, the UPMC Voice Center offers a wide range of services and is a unique resource for both the general public and those who use their voices professionally. Its mission is to prevent injury and rehabilitate patients who have voice problems and to provide cutting edge research. The Voice Center is staffed by a select group of medical experts—including McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Clark Rosen, MD, director of the UPMC Voice Center and professor of otolaryngology in the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine—who utilize state-of-the-art technology, including a voice analysis laboratory, to provide patients with a wide range of medical, surgical, and behavioral treatments for all voice disorders.

Voice disorders are often signs of other medical problems. In order to offer a truly comprehensive approach to the diagnosis and treatment of even the most complex voice disorders, the Voice Center staff consults with specialists in gastroenterology, internal medicine, neurology, psychiatry, psychology, physical therapy, and other disciplines.

To treat voice disorders, the Voice Center offers a combination of behavioral, medical, and surgical approaches

Thyroplasty, arytenoid adduction, and vocal cord augmentation—to restore your voice following vocal cord paralysis
Vocal cord microsurgery—specialized microsurgery to treat vocal cord lesions such as polyps, cysts, and scars
BOTOX® injections of vocal cords—to reduce tight, squeezed phonation and voice breaks caused by spasmodic dysphonia or essential tremor
Laryngeal reconstruction—to repair a narrowed or injured throat or windpipe
Laryngeal microspot laser surgery—a precise laser treatment of vocal cord problems such as bleeding
Voice therapy—to rehabilitate and maximize the physiology of voice production
Singing voice therapy—to rehabilitate the injured singing voice

The Voice Center also provides voice health care services for professional and amateur vocal performance groups such as the Pittsburgh Opera as well as performing arts centers at regional high schools and universities. To provide these health care services, the Voice Center at UPMC Mercy brings together two teams of surgeons and voice therapists. Their goal is to keep professionals like singers, teachers, and public speakers out of the operating room. And Dr. Rosen says Pittsburgh is once again leading the way.

“That combination of having those two disciplines…is unique in Western PA and is very rare throughout the world,” said Dr. Rosen.