Airway stenting in patients requiring intubation due to malignant airway stenosis: a 10-year experience

Critically ill patients with severe acute respiratory failure due to malignant airway stenosis often require emergency intubation and mechanical ventilation. Urgent intervention is necessary for the survival of such patients. The aim of this study was to determine the efficacy and outcomes of airway stenting in patients with malignant airway stenosis requiring emergency intubation.

Patients with malignant airway stenosis who underwent emergency intubation prior to airway stent placement from September 2005 to September 2015 in a single center were retrospectively reviewed. All stenting procedures were performed using both rigid and flexible bronchoscopes under general anesthesia.

Thirty patients with malignant airway stenosis (17 with lung cancer, 6 with esophageal cancer, and 7 with other types of malignancy) who required emergency intubation prior to stenting procedures (silicone stenting in 23 and metallic stenting in 7) were analyzed. Extubation within 48 hours after stenting could be performed in 28 of 30 patients (93%). Of the 21 chemoradiotherapy-naïve patients, 18 (86%) received chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy after stenting. No significant complications occurred during the stenting procedures. The median survival after stenting was 198 days (range, 13-3,009 days).

Airway stenting facilitates extubation in critically ill patients with malignant central airway stenosis. It plays an important role as a bridge to additional tumor-specific therapies, especially in chemoradiotherapy-naïve patients.