Pediatric partial cricotracheal resection: a new technique for the posterior cricoid anastomosis.

Objective: Partial cricotracheal resection has become a more popular procedure in the pediatric population as a treatment for severe subglottic stenosis. We describe a new technique for the posterior cricoid anastomosis.

Study Design And Setting: This is a case series of 4 pediatric patients with a Myer-Cotton grade III or IV subglottic stensosis.

Setting: Tertiary care hospital with a pediatric intensive care unit.

Results: All 4 patients were decannulated and there were no observed complications to include posterior mucosal dehiscence and/or recurrent laryngeal nerve injury.

Conclusions: Placing sutures through the cricoid cartilage is technically less difficult than previously described techniques for treating subglottic stenosis near the undersurface of the true vocal folds and affords a more stable posterior mucosal suture line.

Significance: This technique provides a surgical means to treat high subglottic stenosis that closely approximates the true vocal folds by enabling a stable posterior mucosa to mucosa apposition.

Ebm Rating: Grade C-4.