Absorbable 3D-Printed splint could save kids with rare breathing disorder

Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.

Inclusion Criteria: * Subject must have clinically significant tracheobronchomalacia and: 1. be unable to wean off of mechanical ventilation, and/or 2. be currently dependent on a tracheostomy tube, and/or 3. meet current indications for a tracheostomy or another surgical intervention for TBM * Subjects must have a life expectancy of at least 2 years, exclusive of TBM * Subjects must have a parent or legal guardian capable of giving consent on behalf of the subject, and must be willing and able to complete the requirements of clinical trial follow-up * Subject must have a physician willing to provide follow-up clinical data, including a bronchoscopy at 2 years * Subjects must be greater than 1 week of age and less than 4 years of age. (Infant subjects born preterm, with low birth weight, or small for gestational age are eligible for trial enrollment if their comorbidities do not present a contraindication to surgical intervention for subjects TBM and airways are of a size that can appropriately be treated with the range of splint sizes offered in this clinical trial) Patency-Based Pre-Operative Inclusion Criteria: \- Subjects must have tracheobronchomalacia in the trachea, left main bronchus, or right main bronchus a minimum patency of less than 50% in one of these regions * Screening: In order for a subject to be sent to a clinical trial site for evaluation for the clinical trial, a subject must have tracheobronchomalacia with evidence of less than 50% minimum patency based on a Computed Tomography Scan (CT), Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), or bronchoscopic exam at referring institution confirmed by an imaging or operative note from the local physician. * At Enrollment: The subject must have tracheobronchomalacia with minimum patency of less than 50% in the trachea and/or left mainstem bronchus and/or right mainstem bronchus, based on expiration/inspiration CT performed at a clinical trial site performed during visit 1 Intra-Operative Inclusion Criteria: \- The surgeon can safely dissect out the malacic trachea or bronchus/bronchi in order to place the splint Pre-Operative Exclusion Criteria: * Subject has significant fixed anatomic tracheal stenosis * Subject has untreated complete tracheal rings * Subject has single-lung anatomy * Subject has single-ventricle cardiac anatomy * Subject has external compression due to active malignancy, active infection, or an undrained cyst * Subject has a non-bioresorbable airway stent. Recent removal of any stent will require verification of integrity of the airway wall * Subject has a contraindication to surgery other than airway compromise * Subject has a known hypersensitivity to polycaprolactone or hydroxyapatite, and/or a previous unusual reaction to bioresorbable sutures * Subject has a genetic defect of cartilage formation * Subject has significant bronchomalacia distal to the mainstem as the predominant source of subject's airway obstruction * Membranous posterior wall intrusion is the predominant form of collapse