Complete fusion of the vocal cords; an unusual case

A case is presented of a woman who sustained a 35% body surface area mixed depth cutaneous burn, together with a significant inhalational injury. The patient required emergency resuscitation with endotracheal intubation and s ubsequently tracheostomy. This resulted in an unfortunate complication of a total adhesion between the vocal cords which extended into the subglottic area, causing complete occlusion of the airway. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science L td and ISBI. All rights reserved.