Nasal CPAP therapy for infants with congenital stridor.

Ten infants at ages from 1 to 5 months (1st and 2nd trimenon) suffering from congenital inspiratory stridor were examined, dependent on the respective severity of their stridorous phenomenons each, either clinically or/and endoscopically or/and polygraphically, for differentiation of the diagnoses and for assessment of their needs of nCPAP therapy.With the help of nCPAP it is possible to successfully treat even one-month-old babies who suffer from laryngomalacia. The therapy results in effective alleviation of the thorax recession, reduction of funnel chest development, stabilization of SaO2 around 95%, almost complete disappearing of the stridor through laryngeal functional stabilization and the normalization of the increased heart rate. Also to be emphasized is improvement of the sleep which is characterized by remarkably reduced motility. With nCPAP therapy the stridorous symptomatology is reduced within shorter time than even less severe phenomenons disappear in untreated children. By this therapeutic approach intubation, tracheotomy or laryngeal surgery can be avoided.