airway stenoses

BACKGROUND: Silicone stenting has been used to palliatively manage respiratory symptoms in patients with airway stenoses. Oki and Saka recently developed stents that can be used to manage stenoses around the carina between the bronchus to the right upper lobe and the bronchus intermedius (termed the primary right carina). The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy and safety of Oki stenting used to treat airway stenosis around the primary right carina. METHODS: We included 5 patients with airway stenoses...

Tracheobronchial stents are used to restore patency to stenosed airways. However, these devices are associated with many complications such as stent migration, granulation tissue formation, mucous plugging and stent strut fracture. Of these, granulation tissue formation is the complication that most frequently requires costly secondary interventions. In this study a biomechanical lung modelling framework recently developed by the authors to capture the lung in-vivo stress state under physiological loading is employed in conjunction with ovine pre-clinical stenting results and device experimental data to evaluate the effect of stent interaction on granulation tissue formation...

BACKGROUND: Granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA) is associated with development of subglottic stenosis in about one-fourth of all patients. Although endoscopic management is the primary treatment method for tracheobronchial stenosis, some patients have refractory disease, and tracheostomy is required. It is unclear if laryngotracheal resection and reconstruction (LTRR) can be safely performed in patients with GPA. METHODS: A retrospective review was performed of 11 patients with GPA undergoing LTRR...

OBJECTIVES: Although endotracheal intubation, surgical crossfield intubation, and jet ventilation are standard techniques for airway management in tracheal resections, there are also reports of new approaches, ranging from regional anesthesia to extracorporeal support. The objective was to outline the entire spectrum of new airway techniques. DESIGN: The literature databases PubMed/Medline and the Cochrane Library were searched systematically for prospective and retrospective trials as well as case reports on tracheal resections...

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS: Despite surgical advances, childhood tracheal stenosis is associated with high morbidity and mortality. Various tracheal scaffold strategies have been developed as the basis for bioengineered substitutes, but there is no consensus on which may be superior in vivo. We hypothesized that there would be no difference in morbidity and mortality between three competing scaffold strategies in rabbits. STUDY DESIGN: Pilot preclinical study. METHODS: Tracheal scaffolds were prepared by three methods that have been applied clinically and reported: preserved cadaveric ("Herberhold") allografts, detergent-enzymatically decellularized allografts, and synthetic scaffolds (nanocomposite polymer [polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane poly(carbonate-urea) urethane (POSS-PCU)])...

Airway stent implantation can improve the symptoms of airway stenosis caused by a malignant tumor immediately. However, stent implantation is only a palliative therapy and disease will quickly progress without subsequent treatment. Targeted therapy can provide accurate etiological treatment for patients with critical lung cancer who cannot receive chemotherapies. In our clinic, we encountered a 50-year-old male presenting with stage IV lung adenocarcinoma. He failed both the first-line and second-line chemotherapies and suffered severe complex left and right main bronchial stenoses caused by tumor invasion...

Tracheobronchial stents are most commonly used to restore patency to airways stenosed by tumour growth. Currently all tracheobronchial stents are associated with complications such as stent migration, granulation tissue formation, mucous plugging and stent strut fracture. The present work develops a computational framework to evaluate tracheobronchial stent designs in vivo. Pressurised computed tomography is used to create a biomechanical lung model which takes into account the in vivo stress state, global lung deformation and local loading from pressure variation...

Subglottic Eosinophilic Angiocentric Fibrosis (EAF) is an extremely rare disease of an elusive aetiology. It is chronically progressive benign condition that causes narrowing of the subglottic region leading to dysphonia and airway compromise. The diagnosis is historical and imaging is nonspecific. We report a case xc of 56-year-old lady referred to our institution with globus sensation, hoarseness, and mild stridor. Incidental subglottic mass was found at time of diagnostic microlaryngoscopy and biopsy confirmed subglottic EAF...

Subglottic stenosis is a known complication of a traumatic and prolonged intubation. In a child, subglottic area is narrower and more prone to damage by an oversized or overinflated endotracheal tube. The stenosis can present with complaints of change in voice, croup, or respiratory obstruction. Those presenting with respiratory obstruction require immediate diagnosis under direct laryngoscopy and timely corrective intervention under general anesthesia. A 4-year-old child came to the emergency department with severe respiratory obstruction...

BACKGROUND: Airway transplantation remains a major challenge in thoracic surgery. Based on our previous laboratory work, we developed the techniques required to bioengineer a tracheal substitute in vivo using cryopreserved aortic allografts as biological matrices (Replacement of the Airways and/or the Pulmonary Vessels Using a Cryopreserved Arterial Allograft [TRACHEOBRONCART] Study, NCT01331863). We present here 2 patients who had a definitive tracheostomy for complex laryngotracheal stenoses refractory to conventional therapy...

OBJECTIVE: To systematically study various surgical approaches for treating complex hypopharyngeal and/or laryngotracheal stenoses at a variety of sites and levels. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed the treatment of 17 patients with severe and complex hypopharyngeal and/or laryngotracheal stenosis at various sites and levels of severity. All of the 17 patients initially had a tracheostomy. Thirteen had failed the previous laser lysis and/or dilation treatment...

Asthma is a heterogeneous condition and approximately 5-10% of asthmatic subjects have severe disease associated with structure changes of the airways (airway remodeling) that may develop over time or shortly after onset of disease. Quantitative computed tomography (QCT) imaging of the tracheobronchial tree and lung parenchyma has improved during the last 10 years, and has enabled investigators to study the large airway architecture in detail and assess indirectly the small airway structure. In severe asthmatics, morphologic changes in large airways, quantitatively assessed using 2D-3D airway registration and recent algorithms, are characterized by airway wall thickening, luminal narrowing and bronchial stenoses...

Airway endoscopy has long been an important and useful tool in the management of thoracic diseases. As thoracic specialists have gained experience with both flexible and rigid bronchoscopic techniques, the technology has continued to evolve so that bronchoscopy is currently the foundation for diagnosis and treatment of many thoracic ailments. Airway endoscopy plays a significant role in the biopsy of tumors within the airways, mediastinum, and lung parenchyma. Endoscopic methods have been developed to treat benign and malignant airway stenoses and tracheomalacia...

Slide tracheoplasty is used in cases of tracheal stenosis or injury. With expanding indications for its use at tertiary centers, salvage techniques for dehiscence or restenosis after slide tracheoplasty are increasingly relevant. We present a case in which slide tracheoplasty was augmented with an anterior costochondral graft that stenosed again and ultimately failed. We salvaged this airway emergency by performing a secondary reverse slide tracheoplasty. Using this technique, we were able to establish a safe and durable airway using only native airway tissue...

INTRODUCTION: Inoperable airway stenoses are currently treated by placing stents. A major problem of covered stents is missing mucociliary clearance, which is caused by covering the native respiratory epithelium. By coating a stent with respiratory epithelium, this problem can be overcome. However, no methods are available for efficient endoscopic cell seeding. METHODS: We designed a flexible endoscopic spraying device based on a bronchoscope and tested it with respiratory epithelial cells...

BACKGROUND: Biodegradable stents that disintegrate after a period of time are expected to be well tolerated and have advantages over other stents that are more commonly used in practice today. Polydioxanone is a biodegradable polymer that is widely used during surgery with absorbable sutures. METHODS: We present cases from the first four patients to undergo a tracheal polydioxanone stent insertion. Indications included significant non-malignant tracheal stenosis in cases where primary surgical treatment was not possible...

PURPOSE: We determined the feasibility, safety, and long-term outcome of double stent insertion in management of combined malignant airway and esophageal stenoses (CAES). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Between March 2005 and May 2014, 11 consecutive patients (9 males and 2 females), 56-78 years of age (mean, 63.4 ± 6.1 years), with CAES who underwent double stent insertion (airway and esophageal stents) were enrolled in this retrospective study. Data regarding the technical success, clinical success, and long-term outcome were collected and analyzed...

BACKGROUND: Surgery is an appropriate therapeutic approach for tracheal stenosis due to various benign and malignant conditions. When surgery is postponed for certain reasons, other options are chosen for airway patency. One alternative is using airway stents. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to introduce a safe method of tracheal polyflex stent placement in patients with tracheal stenoses. PATIENTS AND METHODS: During a 7-year period (2002 - 2008), polyflex stents were used 29 times among 20 patients for various indications...

A lung abscess is an infectious pulmonary disease characterised by the presence of a pus-filled cavity within the lung parenchyma. The content of an abscess often drains into the airways spontaneously, leading to an air-fluid level visible on chest X-rays and CT scans. Primary lung abscesses occur in patients who are prone to aspiration or in otherwise healthy individuals; secondary lung abscesses typically develop in association with a stenosing lung neoplasm or a systemic disease that compromises immune defences, such as AIDS, or after organ transplantation...

OBJECTIVES: Balloon dilation is generally considered first-line treatment for airway stenosis. Some dilation systems utilize a compliant balloon that can conform around rigid structures. Others use a noncompliant balloon that does not conform, allowing for dilation of more rigid stenoses. We hypothesized that subglottic dilation with a noncompliant balloon increases the likelihood of fracture of the cricoid when compared to a compliant balloon. METHODS: Three fresh human cricoid cartilages were placed in a universal testing system to determine the expansile force necessary for cricoid fracture...