Life-Threatening Complications of Endotracheal Stenting Caused by Respiratory Secretions

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Airway stenting has become a common treatment for malignant central airway obstruction. Most airway stents are well tolerated,
and life-threatening complications are very rare. Here we describe the case of a life-threatening obstruction due to accumulated respiratory
secretions. A 33-year-old man had a massive large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma in the anterior mediastinum, which
caused extensive extrinsic compression of the whole trachea. Airway stents were successfully inserted into the whole trachea but 1
week after the procedure, the patient complained of worsening dyspnea due to sticky respiratory secretions accumulated inside
the stents. Because the patient could not expectorate a large amount of sticky secretions, frequent bronchoscopic toiletings were
performed for 2 months. The stent was well maintained for 7 months till the enlarged tumor causes extrinsic compression because
stent revision was performed. About 1 year after the first stent insertion, the patient was admitted to the intensive care unit and intubated
because of obstruction of the stent by organized secretions. Fortunately, these secretions were successfully removed and
the patient was discharged without any sequelae. Thus, respiratory secretions can cause life-threatening complications after airway
stent insertion. Clinicians should be aware of this, and careful examination and close follow-up of such patients are needed.