The post intubation complications of the larynx very rare occur in children and they are connected to many factors. The complications could be temporal or they could permanently change the anatomical conditions of the larynx. We divide the post intubation complications into early and late complications. The early complications of the mucosa are nonspecific such as congestion and edema with inflammatory infiltration. The edema of the soft tissue could involve laryngeal vestibule, vocal cords or could localize in subglottic area of the larynx. The continuation of intubation could lead to ulceration and granulation of the mucosa. The ulceration usually occur in posterior part of the larynx, in medial part of the arytenoid, cricoarytenoid joints and anterior part of the cricothyroid membrane. The deep ulceration of perichondrium and cartilage is replaced by late complications such as scars, causing stenosis of the larynx. Granulation tissue often forms in a posterior commissure and subglottic area of the larynx. Occasionally it can cicatrized leading to stenosis of subglottic area and in a posterior commissure of the larynx. The endoscopic examination of the changes during prolonged intubation allows us to evaluate the progression of the lesions. The deep ulceration of wide surface of the posterior part of the glottis and subglottic area are the major risk factor of the chronic larynx changes occurrences and scars, destructing the larynx (1-3). In such cases the decision to carry out tracheotomy should be taken. The chronic post intubation lesions include cicatrix and post intubation granuloma. The scars could occur at any level of the larynx, but predominantly the subglottic area and commissure posterior are predisposition to such changes. The incidence of chronic changes usually is connected with performing tracheotomy in a child in order to keep the patency of the respiratory tract.

The purpose of the study was an analysis of intubated children who had undergone post intubation complications and a definition the dependence of duration of intubation upon an occurrence of the complications.

The study involved a group of 92 children, who developed post intubation complications of the larynx during an intubation. The tracheotomy was performed for the reason of upper respiratory patency impairment. The larynx endoscopic examination revealed the presence of post intubation changes such as edema, ulceration and scars. The analysis of a group was made regarding the duration of the intubation.

The analysis of duration of intubation and of developmental age of the child at the day of birth, turned out to be interesting. Among all the examined children a division was made to the children who were born on time and the children who were prematurely born. The mean time of intubation of children, who were born on time, was 24.6 days, in comparison to the mean time of intubation of prematurely born children, which was more than twice longer and it was 54.8 days. In examined group of children, prematurely born children required a longer intubation in comparison to children who were born on time.