Abstract
Recently, it has been recognized that gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) could contribute laryngospasm, called acid-induced laryngospasm. And in infant, central apnea could be caused by GERD with acid-induced laryngospasm, reaching to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
We report two cases of acid-induced laryngospasm. Subject 1 was 1-year-old boy showing severe laryngospasm with apnea. From two weeks ago, he had been complaining of much belching and hiccups. Subject 2 was 87-year-old woman whose laryngospasm was lighter than that of subject 1, without apnea. Positioning to the left side on her bed induced her laryngospasm. In both cases, the finding of posterior laryngitis was observed under indirect laryngoscopy. However, we could not monitor their ph in their esophagus and observe the condition of the esophageal mucosa with the esophageal fiberscopy, because of their urgent respiratory manifestations and their excessive physical stress. After therapeutic trials with proton pump inhibitor (lansoprazole 10mg for subject 1, and 30mg for subject 2), both of them recovered almost completely without any side effect.
