Lateral division of the rabbit cricoid cartilage: its effect on cartilage growth

Laryngotracheoplasty often includes bilateral lateral division of the cricoid cartilage, despite the theoretical risk that cartilage growth centers might be located in the lateral cricoid. To investigate the effect of lateral cricoid cartilage division on subsequent cartilage growth, 60 five-week-old New Zealand white rabbits were divided into four groups of 15 animals each. Group I was comprised of unoperated controls. The remaining animals underwent anterior (group II), anterior and posterior (group III), and anterior, posterior, and bilateral lateral (group IV) division of the cricoid cartilage. Animals were killed 20 weeks after surgery, and the cross-sectional area of each animal's cricoid cartilage and of each animal's airway was determined. There was no statistically significant difference in mean cartilage cross-sectional area between any of the four groups; the group IV mean was larger than that of any other group, though the difference was not significant. There was no significant difference in airway cross-sectional area between any of the groups operated on. From these results, lateral cricoid division in the growing animal does not appear to interfere with subsequent normal growth of the larynx.