The laryngeal reflex

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Abstract
Extract Laryngospasm and bronchospasm add to the hazards associated with anaesthesia in both man and animals. Of one thousand anaesthetic deaths in Great Britain and Ireland reported to the Association of Anaesthetists between 1949 and 1955, it was found that fifty deaths were due to respiratory obstruction of one sort or another ( Edwards et al., 1956 Adrian, E. D. and Bronk, D. W. 1929. The discharge of impulses in motor nerve fibres: Part II. J. hysiol. (Lond.), 67: 119–151. [Google Scholar] ). It has been stated that laryngeal spasm is perhaps potentially the most frequent source of respiratory obstruction during general anaesthesia in man ( Gillespie, 1963 Allen, W. F. 1929. Effect on respiration, blood pressure and carotid pulse of various inhaled and insufflated vapors when stimulating one cranial nerve and various combinations of cranial nerves. III. Olfactory and trigeminals stimulated. Am. J. Physiol., 88: 117–129. [Google Scholar] ).