Type-IV laryngotracheoesophageal cleft detected during fetoscopic endoluminal tracheal occlusion in fetus with severe congenital diaphragmatic hernia

Abstract

Laryngotracheoesophageal (LTE) clefts are rare congeni-tal defects caused by the failure of the tracheoesophagealseptum to form. They are classified into four types basedon the extent of the cleft. Type I involves a small cleftbetween the arytenoid cartilages, whereas Type IV refersto a complete cleft of the larynx, trachea and esopha-gus that extends to the carina and results in a commonesophageal and tracheal lumen1. We report here a case ofa presumed isolated severe left-sided congenital diaphrag-matic hernia (CDH) in which a Type-IV LTE cleft wasdiagnosed incidentally during fetoscopic endoluminal tra-cheal occlusion (FETO).