Voice and AeroDigestive Center

The UAB Voice and AeroDigestive Center (VADC) is a comprehensive center of excellence providing care to a wide range of patients presenting with voice, swallowing and breathing problems that are either benign or based on the presence or treatment of head and neck malignancies. Dr. Castellanos was recruited to UAB to form this Center from the University of Maryland, where he established a similar program. He is a surgical innovator, having designed many techniques to perform reconstructive surgery of the larynx, pharynx, esophagus and trachea with minimally invasive approaches often avoiding the need for tracheotomy or feeding tube placement. He is also the only surgeon in the country currently using the da Vinci surgical robot to perform reconstructive laryngeal surgeries.

The procedures performed by Dr. Castellanos include:

Outpatient:
Awake laryngoscopy with stroboscopy
Awake laryngoscopy with biopsies, with therapeutic injection of Botox or collagen or hydroxyappetite with dilation
Awake bronchoscopy with dilation
Awake esophagoscopy with dilation and biopsies
Awake EGD
Esophageal high resolution manometry
Ambulatory pH probe evaluation of reflux
Impedance evaluation of the esophagus (for complex reflux cases or where bile reflux is suspected)

Inpatient procedures:
Microsurgical reconstruction of the larynx, pharynx, trachea, esophageal inlet and pallate
All forms of voice restoration, all done by minimally invasive methods, usually through the mouth
Airway restoration of stenosis in post intubation stenosis or that occurring post tracheostomy
Tracheostomy removal
Surgical treatment of intractable aspiration with pneumonia
Restoration of safe swallowing ability
Minimally invasive sleep apnea surgery when traditional surgery has failed
Transoral laser microsurgical resection of early and advanced head and neck cancer