Laryngeal war injuries.

During the war in Croatia in the region of Brodska Posavina at the Medical Center in Slavonski Brod, 7,043 wounded were treated. The Otolaryngology and Oral Surgery Service treated 728 wounded, of whom 20 had laryngeal injuries. Most of the injuries were caused by shrapnel from shells, mines, and hand grenades. Nineteen wounded had associated injuries of the neck, head, and the neck and/or other parts of the body. The authors performed in 8 surgical explorations and immediate reconstruction with the median layer of the deep cervical fascia (MLDCF). Upon termination of the treatment, the nineteen wounded had good respiration without signs of stenosis of the larynx. Twelve had good phonation, five satisfactory phonation, and two bad. None had swallowing difficulties. Among the eight wounded on whom the reconstruction of the larynx was done with cervical fascia, four had very good phonation, three satisfactory, and the eight died on the sixth postoperative day because of associated injuries to the cervical spine. The cervical fascia proved itself to be a suitable material in the immediate reconstruction of exogenous war injuries of the larynx.