Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-qxdb6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T11:19:40.996Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Wegener’s granulomatosis and subglottic stenosis: management of the airway

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 March 2006

A. Alaani
Affiliation:
Department of ENT, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TH, UK
R.P. Hogg
Affiliation:
Department of ENT, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TH, UK
A.B. Drake Lee
Affiliation:
Department of ENT, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TH, UK

Abstract

Wegener’s granulomatosis is a multisystemic disease characterized by foci of necrotizing vasculitis and granuloma formation. Subglottic stenosis may occur either asa presenting feature or a late-stage manifestation of the disease, but will occur in approximately 10–20 per cent of cases.

We present a series of seven cases of Wegener’s granulomatosis with subglottic stenosis and discuss our management of this condition. Where there is active disease, tracheostomy is the first-line surgical treatment of respiratory obstruction, as an adjunct to full medical therapy.More aggressive or elaborate surgical treatments should be reserved for non-active cases in which patients have not required medical treatment for one year.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2004 Royal Society of Medicine Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)