[Pharyngeal stenosis: treatment by resection-end to end anastomosis]

Pharyngeal stenosis occurs frequently after laryngectomy or total laryngectomy extended to the pharynx. Oral feeding might become impossible or is limited to liquids. In such cases, dilations can be performed, but surgery becomes necessary when they are unsuccessful. The objective of this report is to show that pharyngeal resection anastomosis is one of the existing techniques which can be helpful in such cases.

A 67-year-old woman had been operated on a laryngeal cancer 18 years earlier when she presented with a 2 cm height pharyngeal stenosis responsible for a chronical dysphagia to solids. The multiple dilations performed were unsuccessful and she underwent a pharyngeal resection and end to end anastomosis by lateral cervicotomy.

The outcome was uneventful. Normal pharyngeal permeability and swallowing were restored and are still maintained with a 18 months follow-up.

Rehabilitation technics using flaps--pectoralis myocutaneous, lingual, platysma or jejunum flaps--is not always mandatory in patients presenting with pharyngeal stenosis. A pharyngeal resection end to end stenosis, pharynx anastomosis can also be successfully performed in stenosis of limited height.