Idiopathic tracheal stenoses

The case histories are presented of three patients with circumferential subglottic stenoses who presented, over a six-month period, to a teaching hospital's Otolaryngology department. No recognisable cause for their subglottic stenoses was found. Traumatic, iatrogenic, infectious and specific inflammatory processes were excluded. The histopathological evidence suggested a chronic inflammatory process. All patients were treated by resecting the stenosis with a carbon dioxide laser. One patient required an emergency tracheostomy for airway obstruction. A review of the published literature on this rare condition is given.