Laryngeal webs: a new treatment for an old problem

Laryngeal webs, both congenital and acquired, present a difficult therapeutic challenge for the laryngologist. A young trial attorney with an iatrogenic laryngeal web secondary to laser excision of anterior cordal papillomata presented with the double therapeutic challenge: on the one hand, he had recurrent papillomata and, on the other hand, he had a significant anterior web that was 7 mm long and extended to within 3 mm of the tips of the vocal processes and involved the full thickness of the vocal folds. A new/old treatment was tried in this patient and subsequently used on another patient involving old ideas from Chevalier Jackson coupled with newer technology using video laryngoscopy. Two patients underwent the procedure and had significant amelioration of their laryngeal pathology.