OPEN SURGICAL EXCISION OF SUBGLOTTIC HEMANGIOMA IN CHILDREN

Subglottic hemangioma is an unusual entity which may involute spontane ously without aggressive surgical intervention; although tracheotomy i s sometimes necessary. The actual time course for involution is not cl ear by reviewing the literature [1,14]. Numerous treatment modalities are described for the treatment of this condition, including tracheoto my, CO2 laser ablation and intralesional steroid injection with or wit hout endotracheal intubation. Surgical resection of subglottic hemangi oma is an option which is described in the literature and may be utili zed in certain selected cases. We present seven cases of subglottic he mangioma treated at three institutions which were resected via a crico -tracheotomy approach. Postoperative follow-up for these patients rang e from 6 months to 4.5 years. Although conservative measures are still advocated as the treatment of choice for subglottic hemangioma, open surgical resection may be indicated in selected cases resulting in a s atisfactory outcome.