Tracheomalacia

Injury	Disease	Nutrition	Poison

Symptoms	Surgery	Test	Special Topic

Lungs

Tracheomalacia

Definition:

Tracheomalacia is a weakness and floppiness of the walls of the trachea (main airway). There are three types of tracheomalacia. One type is congenital (present at birth), while the others are acquired, meaning that the trachea is normal at birth but becomes floppy later in life in response to something else.

Causes, incidence, and risk factors:

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Tracheomalacia in an infant occurs when the cartilage in the trachea fails to develop properly. This causes the wall of the trachea to be floppy, rather than relatively rigid as it is supposed to be. The breathing difficulties associated with congenital tracheomalacia (also called Type 1) begin soon after birth.

Other types of tracheomalacia occur because of degeneration of previously normal cartilage making up the wall of the trachea. This can happen from something outside of the trachea causing pressure on the airway (for example, an abnormality of the blood vessels surrounding the trachea or a tumor in the neck or throat) and, therefore, causing changes to the cartilage. This is called type 2 tracheomalacia. Breakdown of the cartilage in the trachea can also happen from prolonged intubation or chronic, recurrent infections involving the trachea -- Type 3 tracheomalacia.

All three types of tracheomalacia are very uncommon.