Tracheal stenosis remains one of the most vexing problems in the field of Head and Neck Surgery, and surgical repair of it is dependent upon the degree of impairment and the time which has passed until treatment is begun. When the involved segment is short, less than 2-5cm, undoubtedly the most desirable way of repairing tracheal defect is segmental resection and end-to-end anastomosis. Various metal and synthetic materials have been used for tracheal reconstruction with limited success. Grafts of different tissues such as skin, fascia, hyoid bone, costal cartilage, auricular cartilage and nasal septal cartilage have also been used. Caputo & Consiglio had successful repair of a deficiency of the tracheal wall with free graft of autogenous auricular cartilage in 1961. Availability and accessibility of the auricular cartilage are excellent to an ENT surgeon, and the rigidity, thickness and elasticity of the graft are very good. It is autogenous, and so foreign body reaction are eliminated. In addition, the curvature of cartilage can be chosen, and auricular cartilage is resistant to infection. We have performed tracheal reconstruction with autogenous auricular cartilage graft in the rabbit, and have the following results after 8 and 12 weeks. 1) The grafted auricular cartilage was observed for 12 weeks after reconstruction. 8 weeks after surgery, the auricular cartilage had changed to tracheal cartilage(hyaling cartilage). At the end of the 12 weeks period, hyalinized transformation of the auricular cartilage was more evident. 2) Mucosal regeneration was present after 8 weeks and 12 weeks. Luminal surface of the graft was lined with columnar epithelium, but cilia was not present. The columnar epithelium was thought to have migrated from the surrounding tracheal epithelium. 3) The soft tissue at the grafted site was composed of loose connective tissue. 4) The defect on anterior tracheal wall was well repaired by an autogenous auricle cartilage graft.
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