Congenital nasal pyriform aperture stenosis: diagnosis and management

To review diagnosis and treatment modalities in congenital nasal pyriform aperture stenosis in a newborn population.

A 6-year retrospective case series review. Mean follow-up of 21.8 months.

University hospital, tertiary care center.

Twenty-one consecutive patients treated for congenital nasal pyriform aperture stenosis. Diagnosis was suspected on physical examination and confirmed by computed tomography scan. Associated abnormalities were present in 15 patients.

Nineteen patients underwent surgical treatment focused on external bony margins of pyriform aperture and the osseous anterior edge of the inferior turbinate, drilling by a sublabial approach and associated with a partial turbinectomy in seven cases. A stent was placed for 7 to 10 days. A conservative treatment based on topical nasal decongestants and gastroesophageal reflux treatment was proposed for two patients.

Postoperative follow-up revealed septal ulceration in five cases with septal perforation in one case and development of synechiae in two cases. Follow-up revealed normal nasal breathing and pyriform aperture growth after surgery.

Our experience confirmed the link described between congenital nasal pyriform aperture stenosis and holoprosencephaly, but associated extracraniofacial malformations suggest that congenital nasal pyriform aperture stenosis should be integrated in a systemic malformative syndrome or genetic disorder and lead us to propose an exhaustive dysmorphology assessment. Some infants may be treated by conservative management, and severely affected patients may undergo surgery by a sublabial approach.