Children with Rare Birth Defect Are Breathing Easier with Device Made at Georgia Tech

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Children with Rare Birth Defect Are Breathing Easier with Device Made at Georgia Tech​

By Andy Corbley
Aug. 5, 2024

"At Georgia Tech, an incredible piece of biotechnology has cured one lucky child in a groundbreaking new treatment for a rare birth defect of the windpipe.
Partnering with Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, the invention is a 3D-printed tracheal splint, which has allowed 4-year-old Justice Altidore to leap into preschool with all the gusty enthusiasm of a normal child.
About 1 in 2,100 children like Justice are born with tracheomalacia (TM), the most common inherited birth defect of the windpipe, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
TM occurs when cartilage in the trachea, or windpipe, is weak or floppy, causing the windpipe’s walls to collapse and restrict breathing. Treatments are by no means a sure thing, and much of a child’s early life with TM involves labored breathing and being put on a ventilator.
The Georgia Tech splints are made of bioabsorbable material, and hold the trachea in place like a medic would splint a bone. The cartilage eventually develops, and the splints are ultimately absorbed.

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Children with Rare Birth Defect Are Breathing Easier with Device Made at Georgia Tech

The Georgia Tech splints are made of bioabsorbable material, and splint the trachea in place like a medic would splint a bone.

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