COVID-19–Induced Acute Laryngitis: A Case Series

• Published in: Journal of voice 2024-07
• Main Authors: Tsiouma, Georgia K., Oikonomou, Anastasia A., Nikitopoulos, Stavros N., Stavridopoulos, Methodios T.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: COVID-19; Laryngeal manifestations; Laryngitis; Odynophagia; Omicron variant
• ISSN: 0892-1997; 1873-4588; 1873-4588
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jvoice.2024.07.001

The objective of this study is to present a novel clinical manifestation of COVID-19 with characteristic endoscopic laryngeal findings. A group of patients who reported similar symptoms, displayed akin laryngoscopic features, and received appropriate treatment is analyzed. Endoscopic images are provided and the pattern of this entity is discussed. This single-center descriptive analysis of a case series was performed in the General Hospital of Volos (Greece), during a 6-month period (from April 2022 to September 2022). Twenty-three patients who suffered from COVID-19 and were simultaneously diagnosed with acute laryngitis were enrolled. Demographic data, clinical and endoscopic findings, laboratory results, and treatment courses were recorded. Descriptive statistics were performed with the statistical package SPSS (IBM Corp. Released 2017. IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 25.0. Armonk, NY: IBM Corp.). The majority of the patients were male and fully vaccinated, as defined by Greek legislation at the time. None of them was a smoker. All patients were infected with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 for the first time and presented with acute odynophagia. The characteristic endoscopic finding was an erythematous larynx with white undetachable lesions mainly in the supraglottic area. Pooling of saliva in the pyriform fossae was an independent predicting factor for patients’ hospitalization (P