[Congenital heart defects with tracheal and bronchial stenoses: surgical treatment with extracorporeal circulation]

We present our experience with the surgical management of congenital cardiac defects when tracheal or bronchial stenosis is present. Concerning pulmonary artery sling, we think that it is necessary to correct the cardiac malformation and trachea-bronchial stenosis at the same time. After surgical correction, if the patient cannot be weaned from mechanical ventilation (10-15 days), it is mandatory to rule out the presence of tracheo-bronchial tree lesions in order to perform surgery without delay. The operation should be performed under cardiopulmonary by-pass at the same time as the surgical correction of the cardiac malformation. We believe that the best technique for localized obstruction is resection of the stenotic area, followed by termino-terminal anastomosis (one case in our patient group). However, when the length of the obstruction is longer, our election is to enlarge the stenotic area with pre-molded cartilage (four cases).