Paralysis
Categories:
CHRONIC STENOSIS OF THE LARYNX AND TRACHEA
Sources:
A Manual Of Peroral Endoscopy And Laryngeal Surgery
Bilateral abductor laryngeal paralysis causes severe
stenosis, and usually tracheotomy is urgently required. In cadaveric
paralysis both cords are in a position midway between abduction and
adduction, and their margins are crescentic, so that sufficient airway
remains. Efforts to produce the cadaveric position of the cords by
division or excision of a portion of the recurrent laryngeal nerves,
have been failures. The o
eration of ventriculocordectomy consists
in removing a vocal cord and the portion or all of the ventricular
floor by means of a punch forceps introduced through the direct
laryngoscope. Usually it is better to remove only the portion of the
floor anterior to the vocal process of the arytenoid. In some cases
monolateral ventriculocordectomy is sufficient; in most cases,
however, operation on both sides is needed. An interval of two months
between operations is advisable to avoid adhesions. In almost all
cases, ventriculocordectomy will result in a sufficient increase in
the glottic chink for normal respiration. The ultimate vocal results
are good. Evisceration of the larynx, either by the endoscopic or
thyrotomic method, usually yields excellent results when no lesion
other than paralysis exists. Only too often, however, the condition is
complicated by the results of a faultily high tracheotomy. A rough,
inflexible voice is ultimately obtained after this operation,
especially if the arytenoid cartilage is unharmed. In recent bilateral
recurrent paralysis, it may be worthy of trial to suture the recurrent
to the pneumogastric. Operations on the larynx for paralytic stenosis
should not be undertaken earlier than twelve months from the inception
of the condition, this time being allowed for possible nerve
regeneration, the patient being made safe and comfortable, meanwhile,
by a low tracheotomy.