UNRECOGNIZED at the time of occurrence, regurgitation and aspiration of gastric contents during anesthesia can cause debilitating postoperative pulmonary atelectasis and pneumonia.1,2 Although it has been recognized that the presence of blood, mucus, or aspirate in the pharynx can precipitate laryngospasm, the possibility that laryngospasm may be an early indicator of inapparent regurgitation and aspiration of gastric contents has not been widely emphasized. The following case report is illustrative of a number of incidents in which we have found laryngospasm to be an early sign of what would otherwise be considered silent regurgitation and aspiration.
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Sarwar et al. (1978) studied this question.