Open surgical excision of subglottic hemangioma in children

Subglottic hemangioma is an unusual entity which may involute spontaneously without aggressive surgical intervention; although tracheotomy is sometimes necessary. The actual time course for involution is not clear by reviewing the literature [1,14]. Numerous treatment modalities are described for the treatment of this condition, including tracheotomy, CO2 laser ablation and intralesional steroid injection with or without endotracheal intubation. Surgical resection of subglottic hemangioma is an option which is described in the literature and may be utilized in certain selected cases. We present seven cases of subglottic hemangioma treated at three institutions which were resected via a crico-tracheotomy approach. Postoperative follow-up for these patients range from 6 months to 4.5 years. Although conservative measures are still advocated as the treatment of choice for subglottic hemangioma, open surgical resection may be indicated in selected cases resulting in a satisfactory outcome.