Congenital stridor caused by redundant arytenoid mucosa

Two cases of congenital stridor caused by merely unusual redundancy of the mucosa covering the arytenoids are reported in this paper. The stridor was noted only when the patients were awake, and was not affected by postural changes of patients. The patients who did not reach their full mental and physical development had congenital abnormalities: cleft palate in one case, and hypertrichiosis, short palpebral fissures of camptodactyly in the other. No abnormalities were revealed in the patients on examinations of chromosomes, thyroid hormones and brains using the techniques of computerized axial tomographic scanning and electroencephalography. The diagnosis of these cases should be confirmed by a direct laryngoscopy or a laryngofiberscopy. Although the etiology of redundant arytenoid mucosa is not known, it may be suggested that this condition is incidental to other congenital abnormalities.