Vocal cord paresis and glottic stenosis: a late complication of poliomyelitis.

A patient with spinobulbar poliomyelitis had residual dysfunction of the ninth and tenth cranial nerves, which produced bilateral vocal cord paresis and recurrent aspiration. Critical glottic stenosis developed 28 years after the initial episode of poliomyelitis; this course appeared to be explained by fibrosis of the intrinsic laryngeal muscles and ankylosis of the right cricoarytenoid joint. Thus it appears that significant upper airway obstruction may develop as a late complication in patients with stable neurologic deficits and chronic immobility of the vocal cords.