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Here’s a concise summary of the presentation:
- What it is: The Aerodigestive Care model — a multidisciplinary, patient-centered approach to complex airway and feeding disorders in children, integrating airway surgery, pulmonology, gastroenterology, speech-language pathology, nutrition, social work, and more.
- Origins and growth: Born from the Aerodigestive Center at Cincinnati Children’s (andिवersity-wide collaborations), it evolved into a global, collaborative framework with regular meetings since 2013 and a push to mentor centers worldwide.
- Core tenets: Treat both anatomy and physiology; tailor care to local resources and culture; converge multiple specialties around the patient; use data and teamwork to reduce hospitalizations and optimize feeding and breathing outcomes.
- Why it matters: Single-operation airway reconstructions are not universally 100% successful; a bundled, multidisciplinary approach improves decision-making, reduces anesthetic exposure, and can shorten hospital stays.
- Model components and tools:
- Large, diverse teams (surgeons, pulmonologists, GI, SLP/OT, dietitians, nurses, social workers, etc.)
- Emphasis on feeding strategies, including oral feeds when possible and careful weaning from thickened liquids
- Telemedicine to improve access and equity
- DEI initiatives and global mentorship
- Data-driven outcomes via the Aerodigestive Research Collaborative registry (pilot with eight U.S. centers; expansion planned)
- What’s next: Ongoing international working groups and conferences (Santiago 2024; Seattle 2024; Istanbul 2025; Nashville 2025) to spread the model, share best practices, and advance research.
- Take-home: Aerodigestive care is a scalable, collaborative framework that centers the patient’s anatomy, physiology, and family context to achieve better, more efficient outcomes through teamwork and shared knowledge.