Surgical Repair of Laryngotracheoesophageal Clefts by Tracheoesophagoplasty with Two Overlapping Flaps

Abstract

We report a technique for surgical repair of laryngotracheoesophageal clefts from type II to IV through an anterior approach that involves performing a tracheoesophagoplasty with Two overlapping flaps (TEP-TOF). We offer a technical description, a retrospective study, and a review of the literature. Ten children were operated on for laryngotracheoesophageal clefts of types II, III, or IV of the Benjamin and Inglis classification by the TEP-TOF procedure. After a median follow-up of 58 months (2 months to 12 years), neither complications nor recurrences were observed. All surgical details of the TEP-TOF procedure, including the approach, the kind of sutures, the method of creating the flaps, and the preoperative and postoperative management, are discussed and compared with the data found in the literature.