Two Cases of Pyriform Sinus Fistula Treated with the Use of a Curved Laryngoscope

Pyriform sinus fistula is a congenital fistula that often causes acute purulent thyroiditis or cervical abscess. It occurs mainly in children under 12 years old. The current standard treatment is a complete removal of the fistula, but it is often challenging to diagnose and to detect the fistula during surgery due to scar formation resulting from recurrent infections and prior surgical drainages. Herein, we present two cases of pyriform sinus fistula, in which we used a curved laryngoscope to examine the hypopharynx before the neck incision. We were able to detect the fistula clearly and inserted a tube into the fistula to inject the dye, and achieved complete extirpation of the fistula by neck incision. A curved laryngoscope is useful to the diagnosis and treatment of pyriform sinus fistula.