Acute laryngeal obstruction in junctional epidermolysis bullosa.

A boy with junctional epidermolysis bullosa died from acute laryngeal obstruction at the age of 29 months, having been hoarse since early infancy. Post mortem studies showed gross narrowing of the laryngeal airway by cystic dilatations of the ducts of the seromucinous glands, and replacement of the laryngeal epithelium by oedematous granulation tissue. Laryngeal involvement appears to occur not infrequently in junctional epidermolysis bullosa, and contributes to its considerable mortality.