Metallic stent placement for malignant airway stenosis

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the utility of metallic stents for treating central airway stenosis caused by malignant tumors. The subjects were 72 patients (16 women, 56 men; mean age, 61 years; age range, 28-87 years) treated with metallic stents for dyspnea due to tracheobronchial stenotic lesions caused by malignant tumors between May 1990 and August 2010. The underlying disorder was primary lung cancer in 42 patients, metastatic lung cancer in 29, and mediastinal tumor in one patient. In 69 of 72 patients (95.8%), dyspnea began to improve following completion of the procedure. The average Hugh-Jones classification score improved from 4.2 before stenting to 2.8 after stenting. The patients' average survival following stent placement was 3.6 months (two days-33 months). Thirteen lesions developed re-obstruction during follow-up. Of these 13 lesions, eight patients with dyspnea underwent re-interventions with metallic stent replacement and improved. Airway stent placement is an immediate and effective method of treatment for dyspnea caused by stenotic lesions of the central airway due to malignant tumor. It is effective for treating stenosis due to either tracheobronchial intraluminal tumor or extrinsic compression. Restenting is also useful to treat dyspnea caused by restenosis following stent placement.