Not Always Asthma: Clinical and Legal Consequences of Delayed Diagnosis of Laryngotracheal Stenosis

Table 1

Major differentials for adult-onset asthma and their associations.

Anatomical location	Differential diagnoses	Associations
Larynx	Vocal cord dysfunction	Paradoxical movement: anxiety, gastroesophageal reflux; Paralysis: previous neck surgery, intubation
	Arytenoid cartilage fixation	Rheumatoid arthritis, granulomatosis with polyangiitis
	Subglottic web	Tuberculosis, sarcoidosis
Trachea and main stem bronchi	Primary tumours of the airway; Squamous cell carcinoma^*; Endobronchial carcinoid^†	SCC: smoking
	Strictures	Intubation, tracheotomy, direct trauma; Female gender (idiopathic subglottic stenosis); Vasculitis, particularly granulomatosis with polyangiitis
	Extrinsic compression of the airway; Mediastinal tumours; Encircling vascular anomalies; Lymphadenopathy (e.g., sarcoidosis); Retrosternal goiter
Bronchi	Foreign body	Children, those with neurological deficits
	Gastroesophageal reflux disease	Various—obesity in particular
Alveoli	Congestive cardiac failure	Older age, orthopnoea, paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnoea, and dependent oedema

Most common tumour of the trachea.
^†May produce wheeze through an endocrine mechanism.