Minimally invasive treatment of airway stenoses in children

Objective. To evaluate the efficacy of minimal invasive methods in airway stenosis treatment in children. Material and methods. A retrospective study of patients with congenital or acquired subglottic laryngotracheal stenosis, congenital tracheal stenosis due to complete cartilaginous rings, and congenital stenosis of the intermediate bronchus, who underwent at least one session of endoscopic treatment, was conducted. Results. The study included 41 patients aged 3 weeks to 15 years (22.6±6.2 months), 24 (58.5%) children were under 1 year of age. In 11 patients congenital subglottic stenosis was diagnosed, 23 patients had postintubation subglottic stenosis, in 4 cases there was congenital tracheal stenosis due to full cartilaginous rings, and in 3 — congenital stenosis of the intermediate bronchus. The minimally invasive endoscopic procedures as primary treatment were performed in 39 (95.1%) patients. In 6 cases they were supplemented with surgical correction. In the case of laryngotracheal stenosis of I, II and III grade, the effectiveness of the primary application of minimally invasive methods was 100%, 86.4% and 40%, respectively, and in the case of complete cartilage rings and stenosis of the intermediate bronchus — 100%. Conclusions. The overall rate of positive results of the initial application of minimally invasive methods for correction of airway stenoses is 84.6%, which corresponds to the modern literature data