A Clinical Study of Laryngeal Intubation Granuloma

Lee, Il Ok; Cho, Hun; Park, Yung Chul; Suh, Byung Te

Abstract

Twenty cases of laryngeal intubation granuloms were diagnosed during the three year period from July, 1984 to December, 1987 at the Department of Otolaryngology and Anesthesiology, Guro Hospital, College of Medicine, Korea University. Among the twenty cases, nine had previous operation at the same hospital, where 14,866 cases of endotracheal anesthesia were performed during the period. A clinical analysis of these cases was made to obtain observations as follows: 1) Twenty cases were all female. 2) Nineteen cases were adults with ages ranging from 19 to 71 years, and one case was an 8 year old who had undergone open heart surgery. 3) In 7 cases which comprises about 30% of all surgery had been performed on the head and neck area. The durations of endotracheal intubation for those cases were variable ranging from 55 minutes to 75 hours. 4) The site of the granuloma was the vocal process of the arytenold cartilages in 19 patients. In 7 patients the granuloma observed were bilateral, in 7 on the left side, and in 6 on the right side. 5) The chief complaints of the granuloma patients were hoarsness in 18 patients, respiratory difficulty in 10 patients, and foreign body sensation in 4 patients. 6) These proven cases were all treated by removal of the granuloma under suspension laryngoscopy. The results were excellent except for one case which showed recurrence in 3 months.