Supraglottoplasty in premature infants with laryngomalacia: does gestation age at birth influence outcomes?

Purpose: Prematurity is thought to be to be an independent risk factor for supraglottoplasty (SGP) failure. The purpose of this study was to compare the outcomes of supraglottoplasty in premature infants with congenital laryngomalacia (LM) with that of term infants.

Study Design: Case series with chart review.

Setting: Tertiary-care pediatric institution.

Methods: Analysis was performed on 325 consecutive patients undergoing SGP between 2004 and 2012. Patients older than 12 months age or with syndrome, neurologic, or cardiac comorbidities were excluded. Resolution of airway symptoms after SGP was considered successful while revision SGP and tracheostomy were considered failures. The rates of secondary airway lesions (SAL), dysphagia, and gastrostomy tube (GT) placement were also compared.

Results: A total of 176 infants (136 term, 40 preterm) were identified. SGP was successful in 92.7% term and 90% preterm infants with no significant difference (P = .5865). Incidence of revision SGP and tracheostomy was similar among the groups. The outcomes of SGP were the same in all groups stratified by age. Incidence of SAL was significantly higher in preterm (72.5%) compared to term infants (34.6%, P = .0002). Dysphagia rates in the follow-up were higher in preterm (32.5%) versus term infants (6.6%, P < .001). The rate of GT insertion was significantly greater (P = .003) in preterm (27.5%) than term infants (6.6%). The preoperative dysphagia, persistent dysphagia, and GT in follow-up was significantly higher when gestation age <32 weeks (25%, P = .0168).

Conclusion: Supraglottoplasty outcomes in term and preterm infants were similar irrespective of gestation age. Higher rates of dysphagia in follow-up are seen when gestation age <32 weeks.