Clinical Practice and Cases in Emergency Medicine

Case presentation: This case describes the classic imaging findings of pyolaryngocele and highlights the importance of prompt imaging for diagnosis of clinically occult airway lesions. The case also highlights how pyolaryngoceles can become large and present with acute-onset clinical symptoms, including stridor and dyspnea.

Discussion: Pyolaryngoceles represent an uncommon but life-threatening complication of laryngoceles. Laryngoceles are frequently seen as an incidental, abnormal, air-filled dilation of the laryngeal saccule related to various local pathologies of the larynx. They are often asymptomatic. Occasionally they can become secondarily infected, in which case they are called pyolaryngocele, and they can cause rapid-onset, life-threatening airway compromise.