Journal of Rare Disorders: Diagnosis & Therapy

Congenital Bilateral Choanal Atresia: A Rare Case

Congenital Choanal Atresia (CCA) is the developmental misstep or inadequacy of the nasal cavity to connect posteriorly with the nasopharynx. Bilateral atresia presents with life threatening asphyxia at birth, while unilateral variety often remains unnoticed and presents later. This is to highlight the importance of taking into account the bilateral form in differential diagnosis of severe respiratory distress in the newborn.

In our case a full term, newborn baby presented with attacks of cyanosis and respiratory distress soon after birth. The insertion of nasal suction catheters in both nasal cavity and its non-passage into oropharynx, confirmed the diagnosis of bilateral Choanal atresia. As surgical repair is recommended at the earliest in bilateral cases thus immediate transnasal endoscopic repair was done relieving the life threatening nasal obstruction.

Author(s):

Manish Gupta and Chandpreet Kour

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