title: High tracheal bifurcation: an unusual cause of left bronchial obstruction.
abstract: Congenitally short trachea is an uncommon abnormality. It is characterized by a reduced number of tracheal cartilage rings. As a result, the carina is situated at a higher level than usual. That causes the left main bronchus to course abnormally behind the arch of the aorta, rendering it prone to compression. We report the case of an infant who underwent successful aortopexy of the aortic arch for this condition.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery, Mater Children's Hospital, South Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Electronic address: rkvdoc@rediffmail.com.
authors.forename: Karthik
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ramakrishnan
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery, Mater Children's Hospital, South Brisbane, Queensland, Australia; Department of Surgery, University of Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: Tom
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Karl
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory and Sleep Medicine, Mater Children's Hospital, South Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kilner
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery, Mater Children's Hospital, South Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: Nelson
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Alphonso
mesh_terms: D000402:Airway Obstruction / Q000209:etiology* / Q000601:surgery; D001982:Bronchial Diseases / Q000209:etiology* / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D014132:Trachea / Q000002:abnormalities*