Congenital laryngeal atresia: two autopsy cases, one describing the use ofcomputed tomography

Two autopsy cases of congenital laryngeal atresia (CLA) were studied. In th e first case (a boy delivered at 37 weeks of gestation) the subglottic lume n was almost totally occupied by a dome shaped cricoid cartilage with a pha ryngotracheal duct (PTD). No tracheoesophageal fistula (TEF) was found. In the second case (a girl born at 41 weeks of gestation) histology showed tha t the subglottic lumen was almost occluded by an epithelial lamina and a do me-shaped cricoid cartilage. Again no TEF was found. Both cases had PTD and showed normal development of the lungs. These deformities coincided with S mith & Bain's type II subglottic atresia. The anatomy of the lesion was con firmed by postmortem three-dimensional reconstruction CT, the use of which has not previously been reported.