Congenital Bronchial Stenosis Presenting as Neonatal Respiratory Distress: A Case Report

Neonatal respiratory distress has a broad differential that includes cardiac, pulmonary, anatomic, and infectious etiologies. Congenital stenotic lesions of the trachea and bronchus are rare and can occur anywhere along the tracheobronchial tree. Patients with tracheobronchial stenosis typically present in the neonatal period with respiratory distress.

We present a case of a 10-day-old term female who presented to the emergency department (ED) with tachypnea and increased work of breathing. She was found to have congenital bronchial stenosis of her right mainstem bronchus. She was stabilized in the ED and remained in the neonatal intensive care unit until successful slide tracheoplasty was performed. WHY SHOULD AN EMERGENCY PHYSICIAN BE AWARE OF THIS?: Congenital bronchial stenosis is a rare etiology of respiratory distress in a neonate. Anatomic lower airway abnormalities are an important cause of neonatal tachypnea and must remain on the differential. In addition to respiratory stabilization with noninvasive or invasive support, evaluation should be directed at determining the location and anatomic characteristics of the area of stenosis.