Surgical management of choanal atresia

Abstract

Our experience with the diagnosis and surgical management of 37 patients with congenital atresia or severe stenosis of both posterior nasal choanae is presented. Twenty-five were repaired transnasally and 12 were repaired transpalatally. Soft stents were fashioned from Silastic tubing and used for 6 to 12 weeks postoperatively. In 64% of the transnasal operations and 83% of the transpalatal operations, full patency of both choanae was achieved without the necessity of dilatations. In most of the remaining operations, one lumen remained patent.