Laryngeal Stridor Associated With Hypocalcemia in an Adult

Laryngeal spasm as a symptom of tetany in infancy is well recognized. In later life it is rarely encountered. Guild1states that it almost never occurs after the second year. The following report of laryngeal stridor associated with parathyroid tetany indicates that under certain circumstances the symptom does occur in adult life. A Jewish housewife aged 70 had a bilateral thyroidectomy performed for colloid goiter when she was 47. At 60 she had a bilateral iridectomy done for cataracts; at 63 she began to notice the onset of hoarseness, at 64 the initial phase of chronic congestive heart failure and at 69 acute attacks of laryngeal stridor. The Chvostek and Trousseau signs were positive; the serum calcium was found to be 4.2 mg. per hundred cubic centimeters, and the attacks of stridor were instantly relieved by intravenous calcium gluconate. Control of the serum calcium level with dihydrotachysterol relieved the