title: Congenital posterior choanal atresia.
abstract: Although described more than two centuries ago, congenital choanal atresia remains an entity for which optimum treatment is not yet established. In a study of 29 cases of cogenital choanal atresia during a 14-year period, 14 male and 15 female patients were diagnosed, in contrast with the 2:1 female-male ratio usually reported. Thirty-two operative procedures were performed on 16 surgically treated patients in the series. The two classes of surgical treatment, transpalatal and transnasal techniques, were marked by 66% and 73% recurrence rates, respectively, from 2 months to 6.5 years of follow-up. In previous studies, facial growth disturbances have been shown to result from transpalatal resection in the growing child, whereas transnasal techniques have been indicted as a cause of serious neurologic complications. Because no major morbidity resulted from 20 endonasal procedures in this series, early serial endonasal perforation is advocated as a means of establishing and maintaining a patent nasal airway until definitive transnasal repair can be performed when facial growth is more complete.
mesh_terms: D000015:Abnormalities, Multiple / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy; D004106:Dilatation / Q000295:instrumentation; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007440:Intubation; D008297:Male; D009296:Nasal Cavity / Q000002:abnormalities* / Q000601:surgery