Surgical Intervention to Treat Pharyngolaryngeal Stenosis Caused by Behcet’s Disease

Abstract

We aimed to summarize the surgical treatment for pharyngolaryngeal stenosis and discuss prognosis in patients with Behcet’s disease. Six cases of pharyngolaryngeal stenosis caused by Behcet’s disease were analyzed retrospectively. All underwent surgical treatment for pharyngolaryngeal stenosis after systematic medical treatment. The follow-up time for the 6 patients was between 1 and 12 years. Four of the 6 patients underwent adhesiolysis as their first procedure. Two of these 4 experienced recurrence of stenosis within 6 months and underwent flap repair as their second procedure. The remaining two patients underwent flap reconstruction as their first procedure and maintained good swallowing function. Three of the 6 patients underwent preoperative tracheotomy because of dyspnea. Tracheal decannulation was successful in all patients. None of the patients experienced recurrence after their final surgical procedure and all recovered to a near-normal condition. Pharyngolaryngeal stenosis caused by Behcet’s disease is a rare but severe complication; surgical intervention should be considered in patients with dysphagia after systematic medical treatment.