Complications of treatment of recurrent laryngeal papillomatosis with the carbon dioxide laser in children.

A retrospective study of the complications of treatment with the carbon dioxide (CO2) laser of 17 patients diagnosed to be suffering from recurrent laryngeal papillomatosis is presented. No immediate complications occurred except one case of laryngospasm and failure to intubate during anaesthesia leading to hypoxic encephalopathy. Three patients were completely free from disease and complications. Another patient was free from laryngeal lesions but developed a papilloma in the right tonsillar pillar. Five other patients showed one or more multiple sites of involvement in addition to the larynx. Laryngeal scarring developed in ten patients. Six patients (35.29 per cent) developed scarring as anterior glottic webs while in two scarring (11.7 per cent) occurred as posterior glottic webs. One developed scarring in the supraglottic region. The remaining one had scarring in both the glottic and supraglottic regions. One patient developed tracheal scarring necessitating laryngo-tracheal separation. Two patients were psychologically disturbed during treatment requiring psychiatric consultation and therapy.