Anatomic studies have identified that patients with Treacher Collins syndrome and some cases of bilateral craniofacial microsomia are characterized by multilevel airway obstruction as a result of hypoplasia and clockwise rotation of the maxillomandibular complex. Patients often remain tracheostomy-dependent despite multiple airway surgeries. Counterclockwise craniofacial distraction osteogenesis aims to correct the facial skeletal deformity and expand the upper airway volume by rotating the subcranial complex en bloc around the nasofrontal junction. Early results have demonstrated significant increases in the nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal airway volumes with successful decannulation in a majority of patients who have undergone this operation.
Keywords: Craniofacial microsomia; Distraction osteogenesis; Hemifacial microsomia; Mandibular distraction; Midface distraction; Midface hypoplasia; Treacher Collins syndrome; Upper airway obstruction.
Published by Elsevier Inc.