Abstract
Chronic aspiration is a serious condition causing life-threatening pneumonia. Various surgical procedures, such as tracheostomy, tracheo-esophageal anastomosis, supraglottic closure (epiglottic flap), glottic closure, and laryngectomy, have been performed in the treatment of aspiration. The reversibility of the air-way will be necessary when the patient recovers from underlying disorder. The epiglottic flap operation was considered to have such reversibility. We modified this technique and could obtain excellent results.
The surgical procedure was as follows: The mucosa of the edges of both the epiglottis and the aryepiglottic folds were removed to create a raw surface. The free edges of bilateral aryepiglottic folds were closed medially in layers with interrupted absorbable sutures. Then epiglottic edge was also sutured. At the top of epiglottis, epiglottic cartilage was resected properly and the membrane was sutured in layers. This technique was performed on two patients who were suffered from chronic aspiration and eliminated aspiration.
