Laryngopyocele: 10 Years’ Experience in a Tertiary Institution, South-South, Nigeria

Laryngopyocele is an infected laryngocele: Rarer than laryngocele. An estimated 8% of laryngoceles get infected and become laryngopyocele with features of acute airway obstruction and sepsis with resultant fatality. Laryngocele is more common in Caucasian males population after the 5th decades of life. Mostly acquired though could be congenital. Most are unilateral with no predominance for the left or the right. Recently, laryngocele is categorized into internal or mixed (combined). Laryngopyocele accounted for 0.15% of 1376 ENT surgical procedures done in our operative theatre in a period of 10 years. Both were males in their 3rd decade. The first case reported with clinical features of upper airway obstruction from left laryngopyocele. Plain radiographs and computed scan of the neck revealed features of right laryngocele with contralateral left laryngopyocele. The second patient had recurrent right laryngopyocele. Twice general practitioners previously operated upon him before presenting in our facility. The two cases were successfully managed through external approach under general anesthesia with a small size endotracheal intubation. The mean follow-up period was 4 years without recurrence. There is dearth of literature on this subject in our environment; therefore, this article is an addition to literature.