From concept to clinical reality: implementing tracheal autotransplantation in conservation laryngectomy.

The implementation of tracheal autotransplantation in conservation laryngectomy is an illustration of how surgical research on laryngotracheal reconstruction was taken from the bedside to the laboratory and back. The study started in 1989 in an effort to improve laryngeal reconstructive methods because a total laryngectomy seemed unnecessary radical for unilateral fixed-cord glottic lesions. The clinical problem we chose for investigation was taken to the laboratory and a rabbit model allowing tracheal revascularization and transplantation was developed.