Watch airway surgeons describe slide tracheoplasty. In this surgery, the narrowed trachea is divided across the middle of the stenosis. The back of the lower tracheal segment is incised and the front of the upper tracheal segment is incised. The opened ends are then slid onto each other and sutured in place to create an airway which is twice as wide and half as long.
Transcript
Surgeons Describe Slide Tracheoplasty
Karen B. Zur, MD: The other type of reconstruction for a tracheal stenosis that's further down in our airway is something called a slide tracheoplasty, where you don't remove the area of narrowing, but you just cut into it and then you slide the trachea side by side and connect it. So you make it shorter, but it's wider.
Ian N. Jacobs, MD: An incision is made in the back portion of the upper end of the trachea and the front portion of the bottom end, and the two ends are slid together to double the diameter of the airway, but to shorten the length. And that effect gives you a much wider airway and is a different way to deal with the same types of problems. It's better and improved, in a way, because it involves less resection, and it can expand the airway very effectively.
Related Centers and Programs: Center for Pediatric Airway Disorders