Subglottic stenosis and cricoid growth : an experimental study

The introduction of this thesis (chapter 1) ended in three questions, concerning stenosis of the airway and of the subgtottis in particular. The first and second issue can be summarized as follows: do different types of trauma have different effects on the growth of the subglottis and is the condition of subglottic stenosis to be considered as the ultimate effect of different processes causing an ainvay narrowing? These questions cannot be answered by clinical or post-mortem investigations. Bolinger proposed a classification of histopathologic types of subglottic stenosis, but did not include factors regarding etiology and pathogenesis (9). Post-mortem specimens are not available in such numbers that an apt answer can be given. So, an e1:perimental study was necessary. At first the investigations were confined to a growing "model", as in clinical practice most problems are met in infants and children. Young rabbits were used as experimental animals, because of their convenient size for laryngeal surgery at an early age ( 4 weeks after birth). The effects of various types of trauma were studied 20 weeks later in the adult stage