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Fulltext Stridor Secondary to Acquired Subglottic Cyst: Rarity Makes it Missed

See GB, Mesran I

Indian J Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg, 2019 Oct;71(Suppl 1):45-48.
PMID: 31741928 DOI: 10.1007/s12070-016-0992-2

Subglottic cysts (SGCs) are a rare cause of airway obstruction in children. Medical advances, higher survival rates for preterm infants, and improved diagnostic equipment have increased the number of reported cases of SGCs over the last three decades, the majority occurring in infants who had been extremely premature neonates and had suffered from respiratory distress, therefore having been intubated and managed in neonatal ICUs. Symptoms of laryngeal cysts depend on the size and the location of the cyst and include a change in the tone of voice, dysphonia, hoarseness, dysphagia, stridor, and dyspnea. This condition is often misdiagnosed as laryngomalacia, asthma, croup, or other diseases, due to the fact that it manifests as recurring respiratory infections, stridor, and wheezing. Death can occur in severe cases that are not treated. When present, it may account for severe inspiratory stridor that compromise the airway. The accepted gold standard treatment is direct laryngoscopy with marsupialization of the cyst to prevent recurrence. Two cases of subglottic cyst in our centre are described here. Although all cases presented differently, but in both of our cases, which have previous history of intubation with prematurity were initially diagnosed as laryngomalacia and croup.

Matched MeSH terms: Hoarseness
Fulltext Covido-pedago-phobia

Eachempati P, Ramnarayan K

Med Educ, 2020 08;54(8):678-680.
PMID: 32473029 DOI: 10.1111/medu.14257
Matched MeSH terms: Hoarseness/etiology*
Fulltext Lessons of the month: A forgotten classic: Delayed diagnosis of mitral stenosis presenting initially as Ortner's syndrome

Shariff RER, Abidin HAZ, Kasim SS

Clin Med (Lond), 2020 11;20(6):e267-e268.
PMID: 33199335 DOI: 10.7861/clinmed.2020-0750

We present a rare case of delayed diagnosis of mitral stenosis, initially presenting with hoarseness in her voice due to left recurrent laryngeal nerve (LRLN) compression. A 60-year-old woman presented to the otorhinolaryngology department following complaints of progressive hoarseness in voice over a 6-month period. There was dysphonia but no additional evidence of a cranial nerve IX or X palsy on examination, with subsequent flexible nasopharyngolaryngoscopy demonstrating left vocal cord palsy. She was referred for a cardiology consult following findings of atrial fibrillation on electrocardiography. Transthoracic echocardiography revealed an enlarged left atrium with evidence of severe mitral stenosis. A diagnosis of Ortner's syndrome was made and the patient underwent mitral valve replacement. Common causes of Ortner's syndrome include mitral stenosis with left atrium compression of the LRLN, but it can occur due to other causes including pulmonary hypertension or aortic aneurysm compression, among others. There are few data at present to conclude that regression of left atrial enlargement and pulmonary arterial hypertension with symptoms are associated with Ortner's syndrome. Therefore, it remains pertinent for clinicians to be aware of clinical features linked to mitral stenosis including its more uncommon presentations, such as in our case, as earlier intervention may improve prognosis.

Matched MeSH terms: Hoarseness/etiology
Dysphonia and reflux in children: A systematic review

Saniasiaya J, Kulasegarah J

Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol, 2020 Dec;139:110473.
PMID: 33137676 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijporl.2020.110473

OBJECTIVE: Aim of this review is to evaluate the relation between reflux (either laryngopharyngeal or gastroesophageal) and dysphonia in children.
DATA SOURCES: PubMed, Scopus, Embase.
REVIEW METHODS: A literature search was conducted over a period from January 1990 to March 2020. The following search words were used either individually or in combination: voice disorders, laryngopharyngeal reflux, and gastroesophageal reflux. The search was conducted over a period of a month: April 2020.
RESULTS: Five clinical research were selected based on our objectives and selection criteria. Four studies were of level III evidence. Altogether, a total of 606 patients were pooled with male predominance of 63%. In all studies, reflux was suggested to have strong relation with dysphonia. Majority of cases used 24-h pH monitoring to confirm reflux which yielded positive results in 69%. The top three most common endoscopic findings include: interarytenoid erythema and edema (32/38), vocal cord erythema and edema (160/231) and postglottic edema (141/337). Vocal cord nodules were found in 28% of our patients. Acoustic analysis and perceptual assessment of voice was performed in only 1 study. No complication from any procedure was mentioned in any of the studies. Outcome of treatment was mentioned in 1 study, whereby after 4.5 months of follow-up, 68% of children showed improvement in symptoms.
CONCLUSION: Current evidence shows that there is strong relation between reflux and dysphonia in children. Most common laryngoscopic findings suggestive of reflux includes interarytenoid erythema and edema, vocal cord erythema and edema and postglottic edema.

Matched MeSH terms: Hoarseness
Usage of airway ultrasound as an assessment and prediction tool of a difficult airway management

Adi O, Fong CP, Sum KM, Ahmad AH

Am J Emerg Med, 2021 04;42:263.e1-263.e4.
PMID: 32994082 DOI: 10.1016/j.ajem.2020.09.011

Airway assessment is important in emergency airway management. A difficult airway can lead to life-threatening complications. A perfect airway assessment tool does not exist and unanticipated difficulty will remain unforeseen. Current bedside clinical predictors of the difficult airway are unreliable but airway ultrasound can be used as an adjunct to predict difficult laryngoscopy. We report a case of a 60-year-old man presenting to the emergency department with shortness of breath, hoarseness of voice and stridor. Airway ultrasound revealed a large laryngeal mass narrowing the upper airway, extending to bilateral vocal cords with heterogenous echogenicity. In view of impending complete upper airway obstruction, acute respiratory distress and airway ultrasound findings, urgent emergency tracheostomy was chosen as definitive airway over endotracheal intubation or surgical cricothyroidotomy. Point of care ultrasound (POCUS) was used to evaluate this patient with severe upper airway obstruction. A laryngeal mass was detected by ultrasound and this pointed towards the presence of a difficult airway. POCUS was a good non-invasive tool used for airway assessment in this uncooperative and unstable patient. Ultrasound predictors of the difficult airway include the inability to visualize the hyoid bone, short hyomental distance ratio, high pretracheal anterior neck thickness and large tongue size. Besides airway assessment, ultrasound can also help to predict endotracheal tube size, confirm intubation and guide emergency airway procedures such as cricothyroidotomy and tracheostomy. Point of care ultrasound of the upper airway can be used in airway assessment to identify distorted airway anatomy, pathological lesions and guide treatment decisions.

Matched MeSH terms: Hoarseness/etiology
Fulltext An unusual first presentation of hypopharyngeal carcinoma as thyroid abscess: Case report of a diagnostic challenge

Tan HY, Sanudin SH, Lum SG, Wong EHC

Int J Surg Case Rep, 2021 Apr;81:105723.
PMID: 33713999 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijscr.2021.105723

BACKGROUND: Hypopharyngeal carcinoma can involve thyroid gland due to their close proximity. However, an initial presentation as a thyroid abscess is rare in this malignancy. To our knowledge, this is the second reported case in the English literature.
CASE PRESENTATION: We described a 45-year-old female who presented with dysphagia, hoarseness and anterior neck swelling. The initial CT scan revealed a right thyroid abscess which was incised and drained with no malignancy found in the biopsy of the thyroid tissue. Patient presented one month later with worsening dysphagia, weight loss and a fungating anterior neck mass. Further investigation revealed a locally advanced hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma extending to the right thyroid, upper oesophagus, prevertebral muscles and bilateral cervical lymph nodes (T4bN2cM0). Unfortunately, the patient passed away prior to initiation of treatment.
CONCLUSION: Clinicians should have raised index of suspicion of a possible underlying hypopharyngeal carcinoma in patients presenting with thyroid abscess and proceed to further investigations in order to ensure early diagnosis and treatment of the malignancy.

Matched MeSH terms: Hoarseness
Adult Transglottic Haemangioma with Upper Airway Obstruction: Preservation of Airway and Voice

Mahmud KA, Zakaria R, Azman M, Mat Baki M

ORL J Otorhinolaryngol Relat Spec, 2021 05 05;83(4):295-298.
PMID: 33951656 DOI: 10.1159/000515424

Adult laryngeal haemangioma is normally seen in the supraglottic or glottic region. Transglottic haemangioma is unusual, and treatment with primary endolaryngeal surgical excision may lead to undesirable bleeding and poor voice outcomes. A 25-year-old female presented with hoarseness and progressive upper airway obstruction symptoms. Videoendoscopy showed haemangioma involving all unilateral subunits of the larynx obstructing half of the subglottis. The transglottic haemangioma was treated with endolaryngeal ethanol injection with prior tracheostomy under local anaesthesia. Endolaryngeal laser surgery was performed later on to remove small residual haemangioma and granuloma. The haemangioma resolved; however, the ethanol injection to the paraglottic space results in vocal fold immobility but with favourable position and good muscle tone and bulk. The patient was successfully decannulated. Post-intervention subjective and objective voice assessments showed normal parameters except slight impairment of voice handicap index-10 with a total score of 12. Adult transglottic haemangioma can cause upper airway obstruction and requires intervention. Excision of the lesion endoscopically without sacrificing voice is achievable.

Matched MeSH terms: Hoarseness
Adult-onset nasopharyngeal diphtheria: an uncommon but rapidly progressive and potentially fatal infection

Ding CH, Wahab AA, Marina Z, Leong CL, Umur N, Wong PF

Trop Biomed, 2021 Jun 01;38(2):119-121.
PMID: 34172699 DOI: 10.47665/tb.38.2.045

Nasopharyngeal diphtheria is an acute infectious upper respiratory tract disease caused by toxigenic strains of Corynebacterium diphtheriae. We report a case of a young adult who presented to us with a short history of fever, sore throat, hoarseness of voice and neck swelling. He claimed to have received all his childhood vaccinations and had no known medical illnesses. During laryngoscopy, a white slough (or membrane) was seen at the base of his tongue. The epiglottis was also bulky and the arytenoids were swollen bilaterally. The membrane was sent to the microbiology laboratory for culture. A diagnosis of nasopharyngeal diphtheria was made clinically and the patient was treated with an antitoxin together with erythromycin, while awaiting the culture result. Nevertheless, the patient's condition deteriorated swiftly and although the laboratory eventually confirmed an infection by toxin-producing C. diphtheriae, the patient had already succumbed to the infection.

Matched MeSH terms: Hoarseness/microbiology