External fixation using microplates after laryngotracheal expansion surgery. An animal study.

Management of severe laryngotracheal stenosis requires treatment with open laryngeal surgical approaches. Performing the necessary anterior, and possibly posterior, incisions to expand the cricoid and tracheal rings causes instability of the segments. Placing an intraluminal stent has several disadvantages, ranging from injury of healthy tissue to airway obstruction. The availability of an external stent would avoid many of these complications. We performed expansion laryngeal surgery in dogs and explored the use of microplates for external fixation and determined the surgical outcome if no fixation is used. The results show that microplates are very effective in maintaining external fixation and that a need for placing an intraluminal stent when a posterior cricoid split is performed exists.