Repeated postoperative laryngeal obstruction due to bilateral cricoarytenoid joint involvement in rheumatoid arthritis.
A 61-year-old woman with a 40-year history of severe rheumatoid arthritis developed postoperative laryngeal obstruction twice; the first episode occurred just after surgery for cervical myelopathy and the second episode occurred 3 weeks after surgery when physiotherapy activity increased. A flexible laryngeal endoscopy demonstrated that abduction of the bilateral vocal cords was severely disturbed at the paramedian position, suggesting a diagnosis of cricoarytenoid arthritis. Early administration of corticosteroids was successful.
Fujiwara
Sayaka
S
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
Nakamura
Ichiro
I
Higo
Ryuzaburo
R
Tajiri
Yasuhito
Y
Nakamura
Kozo
K
Oda
Hiromi
H