choanal atresia

Very few risk factors for choanal atresia have been identified.

Choanal atresia is diagnosed at birth when both passages are blocked.

Sometimes babies born with choanal atresia also have other abnormalities:

There are however certain infants with conditions such as choanal atresia in which deaths have resulted from nasal obstruction.

Choanal atresia can be suspected if it is impossible to insert a nasal catheter.

Also any condition that causes significant depression of the nasal bridge or midface retraction can be associated with choanal atresia.

Choanal atresia - blockage of the back of the nasal passage, usually by abnormal bony or soft tissue.

Sometimes, a unilateral choanal atresia is not detected until much later in life because the baby manages to get along with only one nostril available for breathing.

Dr. B.D. Hall first described the CHARGE association in a 1979 journal paper about 17 children who had all been born with choanal atresia.

Date unknown: Hanaoka-shi chijitsu zushiki, a one-volume illustrated book that depicts his operations for the treatment of conditions such as phimosis, arthritis, necrosis, choanal atresia, and hemorrhoids.

Using both a coloboma or choanal atresia and some of the other related characteristic malformations, Dr. R. A. Pagon first coined the term CHARGE.

Choanal atresia (say "KOH-uh-nul uh-TREE-zhuh") is blockage by bone or tissue of the nasal passages (choana) leading from the back of the nose to the throat.

About the same time, Dr. H.M. Hittner also observed that the group of 10 children in a study all had choanal atresia as well as coloboma, congenital heart defect, and hearing loss.

Bilateral choanal atresia is a very serious life-threatening condition because the baby will then be unable to breathe directly after birth as babies are obligate nasal breathers (they must use their noses to breathe).

Another epidemiological report in 2010 found even higher associations between increased incidents of choanal atresia and exposure to second-hand-smoke, coffee consumption, high maternal zinc and B-12 intake and exposure to anti-infective urinary tract medications.