Injection laryngoplasty for type 1 laryngeal cleft in children

To review the 2-year, single-institution experience with injection laryngoplasty for diagnosis and treatment of type 1 laryngeal clefts (LC-1).

Case series with chart review.

Tertiary care academic children's hospital.

Patients at our institution who underwent injection laryngoplasty for LC-1 from January 2008 to December 2009. Outcome measures included patient demographics, surgical and anesthetic technique, effect on swallowing, and complications. Preoperative and postoperative swallowing evaluations were compared, and quality and duration of effects were calculated.

Sixteen children, 9 male and 7 female, underwent injection laryngoplasty for LC-1. Mean gestational age was 36.4 weeks (SD, 4.0 weeks; range, 27-41 weeks). Six patients had a major congenital anomaly (37.5%). Mean age at injection was 11.8 months (SD, 8.9 months; range, 2.9-33.5 months). Nine patients (56%) demonstrated complete resolution of penetration and aspiration on postoperative modified barium swallow (MBS), 4 patients (25%) had some improvement, and 3 patients (19%) showed no change. There were no complications. Mean duration of symptom improvement was 3.3 months (SD, 3.0 months; range, 0-11 months). Five patients went on to have definitive surgical LC-1 repair.

Injection laryngoplasty was found to have favorable results in this group of patients with LC-1. Most patients experienced complete resolution of aspiration on MBS, and no patients experienced complications. These findings support the further study of injection laryngoplasty for LC-1 as both a diagnostic and therapeutic technique. Longer followup intervals are necessary to elucidate the predictive value with regard to success of formal cleft repair.