Laryngeal disease and tumours and its related surgery

Abstract

The larynx plays a role in breathing and phonation and is involved in swallowing through its sphincter function in order to protect the lower airways. Therefore, laryngeal pathology, whether benign or malignant, often manifests itself with dysphonia, dyspnoea and/or dysphagia, as well as with other less specific symptoms such as cough, ear pain, pharyngeal globe and sore throat. Furthermore, in most cases, laryngeal pathologies require surgical treatment as anti-inflammatory and/or antibiotic medical therapy alone is seldom sufficient [1, 2]. In any case, for a correct diagnostic and therapeutic classification of the pathology, it is advisable, first of all, to begin with the study of the larynx from an embryological, anatomical and physiological point of view and then to move on to the characteristics of the various laryngeal pathologies and, therefore, how these impair the structure and function of the organ.