title: Submucosal nerve hypertrophy in congenital laryngomalacia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the neuropathologic findings in tissue obtained from children with laryngomalacia at a tertiary-care pediatric hospital.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective review of consecutive cohort compared with a control group.
  
  
  METHODS
  We reviewed supra-arytenoid pathology specimens from 43 children with severe laryngomalacia and 13 age-matched pediatric autopsy controls. Histopathologic comparison was made of nerve hypertrophy (including nerve perimeter and surface area) among experimental and control pathologic specimens.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There exists a statistically significant increase in nerve perimeter (P = .001) and nerve surface area (P = .02) in supra-arytenoid specimens in patients with severe laryngomalacia compared with age-matched autopsy supra-arytenoid tissue.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The pathologic finding of nerve hypertrophy in children with laryngomalacia provides new evidence to support neurologic dysfunction as the etiologic theory of laryngomalacia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, Division of Pediatric Otolaryngology, and Arkansas Children's Hospital, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA.
authors.forename: Patrick D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Munson
authors.forename: Ali G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Saad
authors.forename: Siraj M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: El-Jamal
authors.forename: Yuemeng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Dai
authors.forename: Charles M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Bower
authors.forename: Gresham T
authors.initials: GT
authors.lastname: Richter
mesh_terms: D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006984:Hypertrophy; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007819:Laryngeal Edema / Q000473:pathology; D007820:Laryngeal Mucosa / Q000294:innervation* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D007823:Laryngeal Nerves / Q000473:pathology*; D055092:Laryngomalacia / Q000151:congenital* / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D008218:Lymphocytosis / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008866:Microsurgery; D009468:Neuromuscular Diseases / Q000151:congenital* / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D012016:Reference Values; D012189:Retrospective Studies