Congenital bilateral choanal atresia is rarely encountered by otolaryngologists mainly because many such cases die soon after delivery due to obstruction of the nasal passage which is the only respiratory passage in new-born infants.
Many such deaths may be reported as still-birth, therefore the actual rate of incidence of the anomaly remains obscure.
Several hundred cases of choanal atresia have been reported so far in Europe or USA, while only about 40 cases have appeared in Japanese literature.
The authors report a case of bilateral choanal atresia in a 6-day-old infant, who died in about a week after operation because of postoperative penumonia.
The authors also report the difficulties during the postoperative period and discuss recent trends and procedures in dealing with this rare anomaly.
