Surgical management of choanal atresia

Our experience with the diagnosis and surgical management of 37 patients with congenital atresia or severe stenosis of both posterior nasal choanae is presented. Twenty-five were repaired transnasally and 12 were repaired transpalatally. Soft stents were fashioned from Silastic tubing and used for 6 to 12 weeks postoperatively. In 64% of the transnasal operations and 83% of the transpalatal operations, full patency of both choanae was achieved without the necessity of dilatations. In most of the remaining operations, one lumen remained patent.