[Surgical treatment of tracheal bifurcation]

Ninety-eight patients underwent operation for stenosing diseases of the bifurcation of the trachea at the Department of Lung and Mediastinal Surgery of the National Research Center of Surgery (Moscow) from 1963 to 1990. There were 44 females and 54 males. Their ages ranged from 6 to 69, average age of 38.2 years. The indications for the operation were as follows: malignant tumours in 84, benign tumours in 7, post-tuberculosis+ cicatricial tracheobronchial stenosis in 6 patients, and branchiogenic cyst in one patient. Surgical interventions were carried out in 86 and only endoscopic operations in 12 patients. The variants of radical operations were: resection of the bifurcation of the trachea with removal of apart of or the whole lung (41); resection of the bifurcation of the trachea with preservation of both functioning lungs (17); resection of the bifurcation of the trachea with exclusion of the left lung from ventilation (17); decompression of the region of the bifurcation of the trachea (2). The immediate postoperative period was uneventful in 51 patients. Complications occurred in 47 patients, 30 of them died. Three-year survival was recorded in 53%, 5-year survival in 48%, and 10-year survival in 40.3% of cases.