Tracheomegaly in children

Abstract

Three children with tracheomegaly were studied by CT scan at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Normal age-related tracheal dimensions were obtained from a study by Griscom (1). Tracheomegaly was defined as tracheal dimensions greater than 2 SD above normal. In two of our patients, tracheomegaly was associated with intubation and ventilatory support, and in the third, it was associated with recurrent pneumonia and chronic bronchitis. In this article, we discuss the etiologies of tracheomegaly in our patients and review the literature on the subject.