Abstract

The incidence of subglottic stenosis in children has risen rapidly in the last 20 years as more advanced techniques enable younger preterm neonates to survive. There has been a similar rise in the number of different surgical methods devised to alleviate the stenosis; success has been claimed for each technique. The importance of normal laryngeal growth throughout an often protracted period of surgical intervention may, however, have been underestimated. This study analyses the data from two units in London over the last five years and assesses retrospectively the benefit of different surgical approaches.