Laryngeal framework surgery has proved to be an important alternative in the treatment of vocal cord paralysis in adults. We have modified one of these operations in order to manage debilitating aspiration in a 14-year-old boy. His laryngeal incompetence resulted from a severe neurologic injury and laryngeal scarring from a unilateral arytenoidectomy and multiple Teflon injections. To help him, we studied a series of pediatric larynges and devised an operation that succeeded in rebuilding the bulk of his excised arytenoid cartilage and markedly reducing aspiration.
WoodmanDPenningtonCL. Bilateral abductor paralysis. 30 years experience with arytenoidectomy. Ann Otol Rhinol Laryngol1976; 85: 437–9.
3.
DedoDDDedoHH. Neurologic diseases of the larynx in pediatric otolaryngology. In: BluestoneCDStoolSE, eds. Pediatric otolaryngology. 2nd ed. Philadelphia, Pa: WB Saunders, 1990: 1172–7.
4.
PriestREUlvestadHSVan de WaterFRichardsonRJ. Arytenoidectomy in children. Ann Otol Rhinol Laryngol1960; 69: 869–81.
5.
CohenSRIsaacsHJr.. Otolaryngological manifestations of arthrogryposis multiplex congenita. Ann Otol Rhinol Laryngol1976; 85: 484–90.
6.
HolingerLDHolingerPCHolingerPH. Etiology of bilateral abductor vocal cord paralysis. A review of 389 cases. Ann Otol Rhinol Laryngol1976; 85: 428–36.
7.
IsshikiNMoritaHOkamuraHHiramotoM. Thyroplasty as a new phonosurgical technique. Acta Otolaryngol (Stockh)1974; 78: 451–7.
8.
IsshikiNOkamuraHIshikawaT. Thyroplasty type I (lateral compression) for dysphonia due to vocal cord paralysis or atrophy. Acta Otolaryngol (Stockh)1975; 80: 465–73.
9.
KoufmanJA. Laryngoplasty for vocal cord medialization: An alternative to Teflon. Laryngoscope1986; 96: 726–31.
10.
EscajadilloJR. Technique for external repositioning of the paralyzed vocal cord with Silastic implant. Ann Otol Rhinol Laryngol1988; 97: 234–8.
11.
IsaacsonGKimJHKirchnerJCKirchnerJA. Histology of Isshiki thyroplasty type I. Ann Otol Rhinol Laryngol1990; 99: 42–5.
TuckerHM. Management of the patient with an incompetent larynx. Am J Otolaryngol1979; 1: 47–56.
14.
KlockLE. The growth of the human larynx from birth to adolescence [Thesis]. Seattle, Washington: University of Washington, 1968.
15.
KlockLEBeckwithJB. Appendix: Dimensions of the human larynx during infancy and childhood. In: BosmaJF, ed. Anatomy of the infant head. Baltimore, Md: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1986: 368–79.