IDIOPATHIC TRACHEAL STENOSES

The case histories are presented of three patients with circumferentia l subglottic stenoses who presented, over a six-month period, to a tea ching hospital's Otolaryngology department. No recognisable cause for their subglottic stenoses was found. Traumatic, iatrogenic, infectious and specific inflammatory processes were excluded. The histopathologi cal evidence suggested a chronic inflammatory process. All patients we re treated by resecting the stenosis with a carbon dioxide laser. One patient required an emergency tracheostomy for airway obstruction. A r eview of the published literature on this rare condition is given.