BACKGROUND Computed tomography (CT) is used to evaluate the human tracheobronchial tree because of its unsurpassed ability to visualize the airway and surrounding structures. To establish an ideal animal model for studying subglottic stenosis, we assessed the size and morphology of the normal rabbit's laryngotracheal airway by helical CT. We measured luminal dimensions at the levels of the aryt...

As previously discussed, because of differences in anatomy, there are differences in techniques for intubating the trachea of infants and children compared with adults.[1–4,17–19,99,114,115] Because of the smaller dimensions of the pediatric airway there is increased risk of obstruction with trauma to the airway structures. A technique to be avoided is that in which the blade is advanced into t...

Fifty-year-old female with dysphagia, presenting on fibrolaryngoscopy a sub-mucosal bulging of the entire right hemilarynx (extending from the pharyngolaryngeal wall to the vocal cord) that spread towards the vallecula and the pharyngoepiglottal fold obliterating the pyriform sinus. The cervical CT scan revealed a solid, hyperdense mass of approximately 5×3.5×2.5 cm extending from the glossoepi...

Editor—Vallecular cysts are a rare cause of difficulty in intubating the trachea. We describe a case of difficult intubation in a patient, after inhalation induction, for examination under anaesthesia of an infected vallecular cyst. A 31-yr-old male presented with a year-long history of dysphagia, anorexia, and 13 kg weight loss. He had a 3 week history of shortness of breath on exertion and as...

Dear Sirs We read with interest the recent letter entitled ‘Importance of X-ray in chronic stridor’ in the March edition of the JLO. The advice given was that foreign body ingestion is best investigated with X-ray and treated with rigid endoscopy or the use of a Foley balloon catheter under fluoroscopic control. Our experience is quite different. Currently only 75 per cent of oesophageal foreig...

provided the original work is properly cited. CC The lingual tonsil, a normal component of Waldeyer’s ring, consists of lymphoid tissue located at the base of tongue [1]. A supraepiglottic mass like lingual tonsillar hypertrophy (LTH) is recognized as a risk factor for unanticipated failed tracheal intubation, and lingual tonsil hypertrophy has been reported to be a cause of difficult airway [1...

What key parameters should be used to evaluate symptomatic Chiari malformations? Conventional MR imaging is necessary to define the anatomic features of the brain and to describe the abnormalities of the posterior fossa and cerebellar tonsils. This is not always sufficient to show the extent or nature of the abnormalities. A need exists for techniques that can better define the causative factor...

Advances in CT technology afford the ability to create 3-dimensional (3-D) reconstructions of the airways in only a few minutes. The 2 basic types of 3-D reconstruction imaging methods are CT bronchography, which depicts the external surface of the airways and its relationship to adjacent structures, and virtual bronchoscopy, which allows the viewer to navigate the internal lumen of the airways...

The CD44 protein family consists of isoforms, encoded by standard exons and up to nine alternatively spliced variant exons (v2–v10), which are expressed in a tissue-specific way. Expression of v6-containing variants (CD44v6) has been related to aggressive behavior of various tumor types and was shown to be particularly high in squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). Therefore, CD44v6 might be a suitable...