Tracheomalacia

Tracheomalacia is a condition where the tracheal support cartilage is soft such that the trachea partly collapses especially during increased airflow. The usual symptom is stridor when a person breaths out.

The trachea normally dilates slightly during breathing in and narrows slightly during breathing out. These processes are exaggerated in tracheomalacia, leading to airway collapse on breathing out.

If the condition extends further to the bronchi (if there is also bronchomalacia), it is termed tracheobronchomalacia. The same condition can also affect the larynx, which is called laryngomalacia. The term is from trachea and the Greek μαλακία, softening

Classifications

There are three types:^[1]

• Type 1 — congenital, sometimes associated with tracheoesophageal fistula or esophageal atresia
• Type 2 — extrinsic compression sometimes due to vascular rings
• Type 3 — acquired due to chronic infection or prolonged intubation or inflammatory conditions like relapsing polychondritis

Treatment

If the symptoms are severe enough, treatment may be needed. These range from medical management over mechanical ventilation (both continuous positive airway pressure, CPAP, or bi-level positive airway pressure, BiPAP) to tracheal stenting and surgery.

Surgical techniques include aortopexy, tracheopexy, tracheobronchoplasty, and tracheostomy.^[2][3]

See also

• Tracheal collapse for the condition in dogs

Footnotes

External links

• Swiss embryology (from UL, UB, and UF) rrespiratory/patholrespi01