Figure legends
Figure 1. CT scan and bronchoscopic images of a 9 years old child with
extrinsic tracheomalacia due to compression by aberrant innominate
artery. A. CT scans show the anomalous course of the innominate artery
(white arrows) that causes an extrinisic compression on the tracheal
wall inducing the
reduction of the tracheal caliber (asterisk). B. Bronchoscopic image in
quiet breth showing the significant reduction tracheal caliber due both
to the extrinisic compression and the bulging of the posterior
membranous wall. C. Bronchoscopic image during coughing, showing
collapse of the tracheal walls and the almost complete obstruction of
the lumen.
Figure 2. Distribution of children with secondary tracheomalacia induced
different mediastinal vessel abnormalities. (A) Number of patients with
aberrant innominate artery (AIA), right aortic arch (RAA), double aortic
arch (DAA), and AIA and RAA in the whole population.
Figure 3. Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) cell data in children with
secondary tracheomalacia induced mediastinal vessel abnormalities (TM
children), white bars, and normal reference value (gray bars). Data are
presented as median values, interquartile range and min-max.
Figure 4. Percentage of bacteria grown in bronchoalveolar lavage sample
cultures data in children with secondary tracheomalacia induced
mediastinal vessel abnormalities: Haemophilus influenzae ,Streptococcus pneumoniae , Group A β-hemolytic streptococci
(GABHS) and Moraxella catarrhalis .
Figure 5. Neutrophilic inflammation and bacterial load in
bronchoalveolar lavage sample cultures. The percentage of BAL
neutrophils is expressed on the ordinate and the colony-forming units
(CFU)/mL on the abscissa.