CALCIFICATION IN THE LARYNGEAL CARTILAGES

Abstract

THE PATTERN of calcification in the laryngeal cartilages is similar in identical twins. This fact would seem to indicate that the deposition of calcium in these areas is hereditarily determined. Therefore, acquired factors such as disease or disturbances in the mineral metabolism probably have very little, if anything, to do with this phenomenon. This conclusion has been reached because in the course of a study of the calcification in the costal cartilages of identical twins¹ it occurred to us that a similar study of the laryngeal cartilages of identical twins might prove interesting. Accordingly, lateral films of the neck were obtained in five pairs of identical twins. The roentgen findings in each pair are described. The calcification seen posteriorly in the thyroid cartilages of J. S. and M. S., identical 20-year-old twins, is seen to be strikingly similar in pattern and distribution (Fig. 2). It is notable, too, how