Imaging of laryngeal and tracheal stenosis

Most laryngeal and tracheal disorders will sooner or later narrow the airway lumen to some degree. Often a presumptive diagnosis may be considered from an evaluation of the history and symptoms. A final diagnosis is often possible by visual inspection through laryngoscopy and tracheo-bronchoscopy, but in the case of submucosal or extrinsic pathology only narrowing of the airway is detected; radiography can be of great value in coming to a definitive diagnosis. After a brief discussion of the normal anatomy of the larynx and cervical trachea, this manuscript reviews the imaging features of several pathological entities causing stenosis of these structures, without being exhaustive. Many radiological procedures of varying complexity have been devised to study these organs; emphasis will be placed on computer tomography (CT) and to a lesser extent on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), as these imaging modalities usually provide most information.