[Congenital nasal stenosis--new concept and its cases]

Congenital nasal stenosis is a new disease concept which was reported, for the first time, by Knegt-Junk et al in 1988. The authors experienced 10 cases of this disease from 1986 to 1990. Radiography revealed that transverse width of the bony nasal passage of these patients was smaller than that of normal infants. Infants with nasal stenosis showed respiratory distress after birth and half of them had a low body weight and/or other congenital defects. Our patients were treated by nasal or oral intubation or by installation of nasal vasoconstrictor into the nasal passage. Four cases showed improvement up to 4 months of age, 6 others after 6 months of age. Tracheostomy was performed in one case. We must differentiate this disease from incomplete choanal atresia or nasal aperture stenosis. Our cases were similar to that of Knegt-Junk et al. We speculate that the congenital origin of this disease stems from a disturbance in embryologic development of the middle third of the face. Accordingly, we measured the diameter of the nasal passage radiography and recognized a narrow transverse width in the bony portion of the nose.