Author(s)

Jacopo Galli, Sara Giannantonio, Gaetano Paludetti

Institute of Otorhinolaryngology, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, “A. Gemelli” University Hospital, Rome, Italy.

Tracheostomy is a well-established, commonly used surgical procedure, whose early and late complications are widely described in literature. Some of them remain still poorly known, though. One of these rare complications is a peculiar larynx-shaped reorganization of the tracheal rings and cricoid cartilage. This tracheal narrowing seems to be non- symptomatic and not life-threatening, at least as long as the reduction of the lumen is <50% - 75%. Such a finding has never been described so far in the literature, and should be kept in mind as one of late complication of tracheostomy.

Tracheostomy; Post-Tracheostomy Complications; Tracheal Stenosis; Optic Fiber Laryngoscopy; Double Larynx

J. Galli, S. Giannantonio and G. Paludetti, "Late Complication of Tracheostomy: Larynx-Shaped Reorganization of the Tracheal Rings or the True Larynx?," Surgical Science, Vol. 3 No. 1, 2012, pp. 56-58. doi: 10.4236/ss.2012.31010.