Prenatal diagnosis of isolated laryngeal atresia - Case report and literature review

Laryngeal atresia is one of the rarest congenital malformations.(1) This anomaly is one of the etiologic factors causing congenital laryngeal high airway obstruction syndrome. According to Smith and Bain,(2) laryngeal atresia is classified into 3 types. Type 1 is complete atresia of the larynx with a combination of midline fusion of arytenoid cartilage and intrinsic muscles. Infraglottic obstruction is called type 2 and is characterized by dome-shaped cricoid cartilage obstructing the lumen. Type 3 is occlusion of the anterior fibrous membrane and fusion of the arytenoid cartilage at the level of the vocal processes.(2) Types 1 and 2 are mostly accompanied by other congenital defects.(3) Antenatal sonographic diagnosis at early gestational weeks is desired because the disease is generally incompatible with life, although only a few cases treated with neonatal interventions such as ex utero intrapartum treatment (EXIT) have been reported.(4-6) We describe a case of laryngeal atresia that was prenatally diagnosed at 19 gestational weeks with the sonographic findings of a dilated trachea, hyperechoic lungs, pleural effusion, and minimal fetal abdominal ascites and for which the pregnancy was terminated at 22 gestational weeks.