Exercise-Induced Laryngeal Obstruction

Excerpt

Inducible laryngeal obstruction (ILO) describes a narrowing or inappropriate obstruction of the true vocal fold and/or the supraglottic structures in response to a trigger or stimulus. When this phenomenon occurs during exercise, it is referred to as exercise-induced laryngeal obstruction (EILO). The ILO terminology was recently adopted. Since 2013, the term inducible laryngeal obstruction (ILO) has been used to describe “inducible laryngeal obstructions causing breathing problems." The European Respiratory Society, the European Laryngological Society, and the American College of Chest Physicians initially proposed this terminology. It replaces the older terms: vocal cord dysfunction (VCD) or paradoxical vocal fold motion (PVFM) that were widely used to describe the disease. In contrast to VCD and PVFM, the ILO terminology is more descriptive as it includes pathologies affecting the supraglottic structures and not only the vocal folds.

First observed in 1869 by Sir Morrell Mac-Kenzie, the condition was long thought to be psychogenic, as later described in the New England Journal of Medicine. In the medical literature, many names have been used to describe the condition. Historically, Munchausen stridor, functional laryngeal obstruction, emotional laryngeal wheezing, irritable larynx syndrome, and factitious asthma, among other terms, were previously used to describe the disorder.