title: Airway obstruction due to a rudimentary premaxilla in holoprosencephaly.
abstract: We present two infants with holoprosencephaly and clefts of the primary palate, who developed nasal airway obstruction due to a previously undocumented cause: a ball-valve-like action of a rudimentary premaxilla, which was extremely mobile on a soft tissue stalk. In such patients, the importance of intranasal examination to identify a rudimentary premaxilla, in order to preserve it, and if necessary, surgically stabilize it, is illustrated.
authors.affiliation: St. Andrew's Centre for Plastic Surgery, Broomfield Hospital, Essex, London, England.
authors.forename: F V
authors.initials: FV
authors.lastname: Mehendale
authors.forename: B C
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Sommerlad
mesh_terms: D000402:Airway Obstruction / Q000209:etiology* / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D016142:Holoprosencephaly / Q000150:complications* / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008437:Maxilla / Q000002:abnormalities* / Q000601:surgery*; D019647:Oral Surgical Procedures / Q000379:methods