Choanal Atresia: Treatment Trends in 47 Patients over 33 Years

From 1977 through 1985, 11 patients underwent surgical correction of choanal atresia. This group brings the total number of patients corrected at our institution since 1951 to 47. This review compares treatment and outcome in the most recent group with the previous series of 36 patients. Eight patients were female and three were male; their ages at the time of surgical treatment ranged from 1 day to 19 years. The atresia was bilateral in five patients and unilateral in six. Six patients had other physical or mental developmental problems. Mean follow-up was 5.6 years (range, 2 to 10 years). All five patients who had transnasal puncture as primary treatment required reoperation; this is a higher incidence of failure than in the previous group. None of the three patients who had transpalatal procedures needed further operation. In two of the eight patients who had transseptal repair, restenosis developed.