title: Idiopathic tracheal stenoses.
abstract: The case histories are presented of three patients with circumferential subglottic stenoses who presented, over a six-month period, to a teaching hospital's Otolaryngology department. No recognisable cause for their subglottic stenoses was found. Traumatic, iatrogenic, infectious and specific inflammatory processes were excluded. The histopathological evidence suggested a chronic inflammatory process. All patients were treated by resecting the stenosis with a carbon dioxide laser. One patient required an emergency tracheostomy for airway obstruction. A review of the published literature on this rare condition is given.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, Southampton University Hospital NHS Trust, Southampton General Hospital, UK.
authors.forename: P G
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Harries
authors.forename: P S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Mason
authors.forename: A D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Ramsay
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Carruth
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D053685:Laser Therapy; D008875:Middle Aged; D014132:Trachea / Q000473:pathology; D014135:Tracheal Stenosis / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D014139:Tracheostomy