What Is Airway Reconstruction?

Understanding the airway

The airway is the passageway for air to travel between the outside world and the lungs. There are many names for different parts of the airway, including:

• Windpipe (trachea)
• Woice box (larynx)
• Adam’s apple (laryngeal prominence)

Sometimes children are born with difficulty breathing through the windpipe, and other times these conditions develop during childhood or after other medical procedures. In many cases, this will require that surgeons rebuild various parts of the airway to make sure that the child can breathe without assistance from a breathing tube or tracheostomy.

Why choose us?

Expertise and research

• National leaders: We are one of the busiest pediatric airway centers in the United States.
• Cutting-edge research: We conduct research on diseases affecting the airway in children, this means that our patients have access to the most state-of-the-art facilities, instruments, and resources.
• Care for all ages: We treat children of every age, from babies still in the womb to young adults.

Comprehensive, integrated care

Children can work closely with other programs at Stanford Medicine Children’s Health including:

• Center for Pediatric Voice and Swallowing Disorders
• Pediatric Induced Laryngeal Obstruction Clinic (Paradoxical Vocal Fold Motion Disorder)
• Pediatric Heart Surgery
• Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition.

The Center’s partnership with Stanford Health Care also means that your child will have continuity of care as they grow into adulthood.

Support for surgery and recovery

• Leading anesthesiology: Should surgery be necessary, we work closely with one of the leading pediatric anesthesiology teams in the nation.
• Child-focused resources: We also have child-focused resources, a hallmark of Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford, such as virtual reality technologies to ease discomfort during procedures and child life specialists to minimize stress to help your child cope positively.
• Family-centered environment: Should your child require care in the hospital, our private patient rooms are designed for family-centered recovery.