The trachea and esophagus after repair of esophageal atresia and distal fistula: computed tomographic observations.

Five patients, whose esophageal atresia and distal tracheoesophageal fistula had been repaired in infancy, were examined by computed tomography at age 2 to 21 because of recurrent or persistent tracheal or esophageal problems. Their tracheas generally failed to have the roughly circular cross-sectional shape found in controls. The pars membranacea was often unusually broad, with much more section-to-section variation in area than in controls. Change in cross-sectional area with respiratory phase, in the one patient assessed, was much greater than in a control. These tracheal abnormalities help to explain the tracheal symptoms found in these and similar patients. Their esophagi contained much air and fluid.