Introduction: It is known as the rigid bronchoscopic intervention is an excellent therapeutic option to replace surgery in post-intubation tracheal stenosis (PITS). However, it is difficult to predict its outcome. We aimed to evaluate factors affectin...
Introduction: It is known as the rigid bronchoscopic intervention is an excellent therapeutic option to replace surgery in post-intubation tracheal stenosis (PITS). However, it is difficult to predict its outcome. We aimed to evaluate factors affecting the successful rigid bronchoscopic intervention in patients with PITS.
Method: Data was collected retrospectively on 41 patients with PITS underwent rigid bronchoscopic intervention between October 2007 and July 2017 at St. Paul hospital. Successful therapeutic outcome was defined as maintaining the airway patency without stent insertion by bronchoscopic dilatation and surgery or stent reinsertion after stent removal.
Results: In 9 of 41 patients, airway patency was maintained by conducting only bronchoscopic dilatation without stent insertion. Successful stent removal was performed in 21 of 32 patients who received the stent insertion. The length of stenotic lesion was a significant factor to determine the therapeutic outcome not only in group without stent insertion (p=0.005) but also in group with successful stent removal (p=0.022) by subgroup analysis. However, there was no statistically significant factor to determine the therapeutic outcome in multivariate logistic regression analysis.
Conclusion: It is suggested that the length of stenotic lesion of tracheal stenosis may influence the successful therapeutic outcome of rigid bronchoscopic intervention. Further studies are needed to assess the significant factors affecting the successful rigid bronchoscopic intervention by including a larger number of patients.