Type III-IV laryngotracheoesophageal cleft: report of a successfully treated case

Abstract

This report presents a case of Stage III laryngotracheoesophageal cleft (LTEC). It is, to our knowledge, the fourth case in which the patient is still alive twenty months after surgery. We herein describe an initial symptomatology dominated by a bubbling hypersalivation, our surgical technique using a pleural shred of interposition and an endoscopic check during the operation and, finally, the clinical development dominated by a food intake refusal which was progressively improved through psychiatric help.