Laryngeal anatomic differences in pediatric patients with severe laryngomalacia

Abstract

Objectives: To compare the aryepiglottic (AE) length in pediatric patients who have severe laryngomalacia (SL) and are undergoing aryepiglottoplasty with the AE length of a convenience sample of control patients without laryngomalacia. Design: Prospective case-control study. Setting: A tertiary-care pediatric hospital. Results: The mean AE fold length-glottic length ratio for patients with SL (0.380) was significantly lower than the mean ratio for controls (0.535) (P = .004 in 2-sample t test with unequal variance). For patients with SL, the aryepiglottoplasy procedure resulted in an average AE length increase-glottic length ratio of 0.330. Seven of the patients with SL were also diagnosed as having an underlying neurologic condition, and 18 had a diagnosis of gastroesophageal reflux disease. Two patients with SL required a tracheotomy for treatment of persistent airway obstruction. Conclusions: In this series, patients with SL had lower AE fold length-glottic length ratios and more frequent occurrence of neuromuscular tone abnormalities (especially gastroesophageal reflux) than controls. These 2 findings may be related in that low intrauterine tone might contribute to anatomic underdevelopment.