[304] _Tuberculosis_.--In the non-cicatricial forms, galvanocaustic
puncture applied through the direct laryngoscope will usually reduce
the infiltrations sufficiently to provide a free airway. Should the
pulmonary and laryngeal tuberculosis be fortunately cured, leaving,
however, a cicatricial stenosis of the larynx, decannulation may be
accomplished by laryngostomy.
_Lues_.--Active and persistent antiluetic medication must precede and
accompany any local treatment of luetic laryngeal stenosis. Prolonged
stretching with oversized intubation tubes following excision or
cauterization may sometimes be successful, but laryngostomy is usually
required to combat the vicious contraction of luetic cicatrices.
_Scleroma_ is rarely encountered in America. Radiotherapy has been
advocated and good results have been reported from the intravenous
injection of salvarsan. Radium may be tried, and its application is
readily made through the direct laryngoscope.
_Diphtheria_.--Chronic postdiphtheritic stenosis may be of the panic,
spasmodic or, rarely, the paralytic types; but more often it is of
either the hypertrophic or cicatricial forms. Only too frequently the
stenosis should be called posttracheotomic rather than
postdiphtheritic, since decannulation after the subsidence of the
acute stenosis would have been easy had it not been for the sequelae
of the faulty tracheotomy. Prolonged intubation may induce either a
supraglottic or subglottic tissue hyperplasia. _The supraglottic type_
consists in an edematous thickening around the base of the epiglottis,
sometimes involving also the glossoepiglottic folds and the
ventricular bands. An improperly shaped or fitted tube is the usual
cause of this condition, and a change to a correct form of intubation
tube may be all that is required. Excessive polypoid tissue
hypertrophy should be excised. The less redundant cases subside under
galvanocaustic treatment, which may be preceded by tracheotomy and
extubation, or the intubation tube may be replaced after the
application of the cautery. The former method is preferable since the
patient is far safer with a tracheotomic cannula and, further, the
constant irritation of the intubation tube is avoided. _Subglottic
hypertrophic stenosis_ consists in symmetrical turbinal-like swellings
encroaching on the lumen from either side. Cautious galvanocauterant
treatment accurately applied by the direct method will practically
always cure this condition. Preliminary tracheotomy is required in
those cases in which it has not already been done, and in the cases in
which a high tracheotomy has been done, a low tracheotomy must be the
first step in the cure. Cicatricial types of postdiphtheritic stenosis
may be seen as webs, annular cicatrices of funnel shape, or masses of
fibrous tissue causing fixation of the arytenoids as well as
encroachment on the glottic lumen. (See color plates.)
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