title: Development of congenital laryngeal atresias and clefts.
abstract: Congenital supraglottic laryngeal obstruction still is being described as subglottic stenosis. There are three clearly defined types of congenital laryngeal atresia, which result from arrest at consecutive developmental stages. Type 1 consists of a supraglottic obstruction, absent vestibule, and stenotic infraglottis, and type 2 is a supraglottic obstruction that separates a shallow primitive vestibule above from a nonstenotic infraglottis. These two types usually are accompanied by other defects, many of them severe. In type 3, a perforated membrane partly obstructs the glottis. Arrest of the dorsal advance of the chondrifying cricoid before the ends meet to form the dorsal lamina results in a complete laryngeal cleft, and incomplete fusion of the ends may leave a notch and/or foramen within the lamina. Failure of the interarytenoid tissue to develop will produce a local cleft, and maldevelopment of the cricoid cartilage or infraglottic submucosa can result in true subglottic stenosis without supraglottic obstruction.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.
authors.forename: H I
authors.initials: HI
authors.lastname: Zaw-Tun
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D007817:Laryngeal Cartilages / Q000002:abnormalities; D007829:Laryngostenosis / Q000151:congenital* / Q000196:embryology; D007830:Larynx / Q000002:abnormalities*