Symptomatic improvement in dyspnea following tracheobronchial metallic stenting for malignant airway obstruction.

PURPOSE: To investigate the value and limitation of Gianturco expandable metallic stenting for patients with dyspnea due to stenotic tracheobronchial lesions associated with malignancies.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: We treated 55 lesions of 44 patients with obstructing stenotic tracheobronchial lesions related to end-stage malignancies by Gianturco expandable metallic stents (EMSs).

RESULTS: In 42 of 44 patients, the dyspnea subjectively improved after the procedure (95.5%). An improvement over one grade of the Hugh-Jones classification was shown in 79.5% (35/44); in 80% (20 of 25 patients) with intraluminal tumor and in 78.9% (15 of 19 patients) with extrinsic compression. Seven of the 44 patients developed dyspnea related to re-stenosis of 10 lesions and 1 of these patients developed dyspnea related to re-re-stenosis during follow-up. The mean duration of survival was 4.3 months in patients who underwent stenting. No significant differences in survival rates and primary patency rates were seen in patients with extrinsic compression compared to patients with intraluminal tumors.

CONCLUSION: Gianturco EMS therapy was valuable in patients who suffered from dyspnea due to airway stenosis causing obstruction.