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Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust UCL Institute of Child Health
 

Children and families

Tracheal stenosis

This leaflet explains tracheal stenosis, how it can be treated and what to expect when your child has treatment. This leaflet mainly concentrates on the ‘long segment’ type of tracheal stenosis and its treatment.

Contents

What is tracheal stenosis?

The trachea (windpipe) is the airway tube leading from the throat to the lungs. It is not made up of solid tissue, but rather a series of C-shaped rings of cartilage linked together, a bit like vacuum-cleaner tubing. Normally, the cartilage gives the trachea its structure. When a child has tracheal stenosis, the rings are often fixed and O-shaped so do not allow for growth. If a child has ‘long segment’ tracheal stenosis, more than two-thirds of the trachea is affected. Some children only have a few affected rings (short segment stenosis).

What are the symptoms of tracheal stenosis?

There are two main symptoms associated with tracheal stenosis. A child will usually have noisy breathing, also called stridor. The other symptom is sudden and severe breathing problems, where a child could stop breathing and turn blue. This can be life-threatening if the child is not given first aid immediately. Sometimes the problem may only become apparent after the child develops a chest infection and has more severe breathing difficulties that are out of proportion to the infection. This may include having to be on a ventilator. Tracheal stenosis can be associated with other problems, such as a heart defect so the doctors will examine your child closely to check if this is the case.

How is tracheal stenosis diagnosed?

Tracheal stenosis is often first suspected after a child has had a severe breathing problem, but the diagnosis is confirmed using various tests. These include a bronchoscopy, which allows the doctors to look inside the trachea using a bronchoscope (a thin, flexible tube with a bright light at the end). All children have a CT scan as well to give the doctors detailed pictures of the trachea and lungs. For more information about CT scans, please see our leaflet. Most children have an ECHO (echocardiogram or ultrasound scan of the heart) to check that the heart and blood vessels are correctly connected.

What causes tracheal stenosis?

We do not know exactly what causes the abnormality of tracheal development during pregnancy. However, it is not caused by anything you did or did not do during pregnancy.

How common is tracheal stenosis?

The exact numbers of children with tracheal stenosis is not known. At GOSH, we tend to see between eight and ten children each year with long segment tracheal stenosis. It seems to be more common in boys than girls, but more research is needed to discover the reason for this.

How can tracheal stenosis be treated?

Treatment depends on the number of tracheal rings affected. If a child only has one or two fixed rings of cartilage and is not having too many problems, the doctors might suggest ‘watching and waiting’ for a while to see if the situation improves. If treatment is needed, the affected rings can be removed and the two ends of the trachea joined together.

If a child has ‘long segment’ tracheal stenosis, an operation called a ‘slide tracheoplasty’ may be needed. This is often carried out as an emergency operation to correct severe and life threatening breathing problems.

What is a ‘slide tracheoplasty’?

A slide tracheoplasty is our operation of choice to correct the problems associated with tracheal stenosis. The advantage of a ‘slide tracheoplasty’ over other operations is that it uses the body’s own tissues to correct the tracheal stenosis, so there is no risk of rejection. The aim of the operation is to widen the airway, and so reduce breathing problems. A diagram of the operation is shown right.

What happens before the operation?

The operation may be carried out urgently, and your child may have been transferred to GOSH from another hospital. When you arrive at GOSH, you will meet the Tracheal Team, who will be caring for your child. The doctors will explain the operation in more detail, discuss any worries you may have and ask you to give your permission for the operation by signing a consent form. Another doctor will visit you on the ward to explain about the anaesthetic. The doctors will ask for some blood samples to check that your child is well before the operation. If your child has any medical problems, like allergies, please tell the doctors about these.

What does the operation involve?

The operation lasts for about four hours and is carried out while your child is under a general anaesthetic. He or she will be connected to a heart-lung bypass machine during the operation so that the surgeon can safely operate on your child’s trachea.

The surgeon will make an incision (cut) on your child’s chest and separate the trachea into two parts, top and bottom. The top part will be cut down the back of the trachea and the bottom part down the front. The surgeon will then slide the two parts together, so that one part is on top of the other. He or she will then stitch the two parts in place so that the trachea is shorter but stronger and wider. If you slide your index fingers over each other you will get a good idea of the principle of the operation.

Three chest drains will be inserted into the bottom of the incision to drain away any fluid that collects there. Your child will also have a drip into a vein in the neck, an arterial line in the wrist, another drip in his or her hand and a urinary catheter to drain away urine from the bladder.

Are there any risks?

As with all operations there are associated risks and complications. We are not suggesting that they will happen, but we believe that it is important that you know about what might occur. The surgeon will explain the specific risks associated with your child’s operation.

Bleeding immediately after the operation is a risk. Chest drains are there to allow blood to drain away from the wounds and the bleeding usually stops after a few hours. If it continues and medications do not stop the bleeding, your child may need to go back to the operating theatre for investigation. There is always enough blood available to replace what has been lost. Chest drains also help the doctors to see if there is any leak of air from the repair of the trachea, although this is very rare.

Infection is a risk with any operation so your child will have a course of antibiotics to reduce the chance of this happening. The nurses will wash out the operation site using an antiseptic liquid through the chest drains for the first two days.

Another risk, affecting around a third of children, is that the trachea remains too narrow after the operation. In some children, their trachea becomes floppy afterwards, causing breathing problems. If your child’s trachea is too narrow, it can be widened using a balloon in another procedure under general anaesthetic. If it is too floppy, a metal cage called a stent can be used to support the trachea. This procedure is also carried out under general anaesthetic.

There is a very small chance that the surgeon will not be able to operate because your child’s condition is too serious. Previous surgery to the trachea can also make operating more difficult, especially if scar tissue has formed in the past. It is also possible that the surgeon will discover a previously unconfirmed heart defect, which could affect your child’s recovery.

What happens afterwards?

Your child will go to the Cardiac Critical Care Unit to recover. He or she will have a tube inserted into the nose or mouth and be connected to a ventilator to help with breathing. This allows the trachea to rest as it heals. Your child will have medicines to keep them still for the first week but you can still be involved in his or her care if you feel able.

During the first week, your child will need regular chest physiotherapy to clear any secretions or mucus. This will continue until your child is well enough to cough. Between three and five days after the operation, your child will have another bronchoscopy either at the bedside, or in X-ray if an outline of the airway is needed, to see how the trachea is healing. If it is healing well, the team will start to plan when your child can come off the ventilator. This happens gradually, with the sedation medicines being reduced day by day as support from the ventilator is also reduced. The amount of time it takes to ‘wean’ your child off the ventilator varies. The team will explain the plan and your child’s daily progress.

When your child has been weaned from the ventilator, they will move to Ladybird Ward to recover further. Your child will still have a bronchoscopy every week, just to check how the trachea is healing. After each bronchoscopy, your child’s breathing may sound noisy but this is expected. During this healing phase, it is sometimes necessary to stretch the tracheal diameter from inside using a balloon. This is done under anaesthetic and may need to be repeated a couple of times.

Going home

During your child’s stay on Ladybird Ward, the team will start to plan when he or she can go home. There will be some teaching sessions to make sure you are confident in the signs to look out for and also Basic Life Support (BLS). Your child may need a nebuliser to keep the secretions loose or sometimes antibiotics to take home. The team will also explain about your child’s follow up care, which involves regular bronchoscopies, although these may be carried out at a hospital nearer to home.

We will send details of your child’s operation to you and your family doctor (GP). Your child should have the flu vaccine every year and also antibiotics if he or she has a cough or cold. Your child should avoid rough play for a while after the operation, but can start to do more activities, as he or she feels able.

When you get home

You should call the team if

  • Your child starts to make a lot of noise when breathing
  • Your child seems to be making more effort to breathe
  • Your child is not feeding well
  • Your child is generally not well If your child stops breathing, start Basic Life Support (BLS) as instructed while someone else calls for an ambulance.

What is the outlook for children with tracheal stenosis?

In our experience, the first year after the operation can be the most trying for parents. Your child has had major surgery and you will be worried about how he or she is recovering. He or she may still have breathing problems, but these are likely to be less severe than before the operation. The follow up programme can take up a lot of time, as appointments can be on a weekly basis to start but will reduce over time to every month or so.

Some children (around a third) need to have further procedures to widen the trachea or strengthen it if it becomes floppy (malacic). These procedures are carried out under a general anaesthetic and will require a stay in hospital.

During the second year after the operation, children seem to settle more and have fewer breathing problems. Your child will only need a bronchoscopy every six months or so and yearly follow up appointments.

He or she will be able to have a near normal life, attending school or nursery, although feeding can take some time to establish. He or she may seem smaller than other children of the same age for the first few years, but the majority catch up in time, with special feed. Please speak to the dietitians about this if you are worried.

Is there a support group?

There is currently no support group in the UK for children with tracheal stenosis, but the clinical nurse specialist will be able to put you in touch with another family.

If you have any questions, please call the CNS for tracheal stenosis on 020 7405 9200 bleep 0059 or 020 7813 8348

Ref: F070265 © GOSH Trust April 2007
Compiled by the Tracheal Team in collaboration with the Child and Family Information Group.
This information does not constitute health or medical advice and will not necessarily reflect treatment at other hospitals. If you have any questions, please ask your doctor. No liability can be taken as a result of using this information.

This page was last updated on 12 August, 2008