• Cesare Piazza, Marta Filauro, Frederik G Dikkers, Nouraei S A Reza SAR The Robert White Centre for Airway Voice and Swallowing, Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Poole, UK., Kishore Sandu, Christian Sittel, Milan R Amin, Guillermo Campos, Hans E Eckel, and Giorgio Peretti.
• Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Maxillofacial and Thyroid Surgery, Fondazione IRCCS, National Cancer Institute of Milan, Via Giacomo Venezian 1, 20133, Milan, Italy.
• Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol. 2021 Jan 1; 278 (1): 1-7.

IntroductionThe novel Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, may need intensive care unit (ICU) admission in up to 12% of all positive cases for massive interstitial pneumonia, with possible long-term endotracheal intubation for mechanical ventilation and subsequent tracheostomy. The most common airway-related complications of such ICU maneuvers are laryngotracheal granulomas, webs, stenosis, malacia and, less commonly, tracheal necrosis with tracheo-esophageal or tracheo-arterial fistulae.Materials And MethodsThis paper gathers the opinions of experts of the Laryngotracheal Stenosis Committee of the European Laryngological Society, with the aim of alerting the medical community about the possible rise in number of COVID-19-related laryngotracheal stenosis (LTS), and the aspiration of paving the way to a more rationale concentration of these cases within referral specialist airway centers.ResultsA range of prevention strategies, diagnostic work-up, and therapeutic approaches are reported and framed within the COVID-19 pandemic context.ConclusionsOne of the most important roles of otolaryngologists when encountering airway-related signs and symptoms in patients with previous ICU hospitalization for COVID-19 is to maintain a high level of suspicion for LTS development, and share it with colleagues and other health care professionals. Such a condition requires specific expertise and should be comprehensively managed in tertiary referral centers.

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