Analysis of 40 patients who underwent tracheal resection due to benign complex tracheal stenosis

Benign tracheal stenosis is a common complication in patients followed up in intensive care units. We aimed to analyze the etiology, diagnostic approaches, treatment methods for benign tracheal stenosis, and the predicting factors for complications after tracheal resection for benign stenosis.

Forty patients who underwent tracheal resection reconstruction due to benign tracheal stenosis were analyzed retrospectively. Predictive factors for complications were determined by statistical analysis.

There were 23 patients (57.5%) in the intubation group, 11 patients (27.5%) in the tracheostomy group, and 6 patients (15%) in the subsequent tracheostomy group. Preoperatively, rigid dilatation was applied to all patients between 2 and 6 sessions (median = 3). Tracheal resections were performed in all patients after rigid dilatations. The mean of the resected segment lengths is 32.1 ± 8.8 mm. There was a statistically significant difference between preoperative bronchoscopic measurements, preoperative tomography measurements, and intraoperative measurements of the stenosis segment (ꭓ2 (2) = 71,500; p < 0.001). The patients' mean follow-up period was 27.4 ± 21.7 months (3-84). Mortality due to tracheal surgery and major anastomotic complications were not observed. The minor anastomotic complication rate was 12.5%, the non-anastomotic complication rate was 17.5%. The effect of resection length and surgical experience were found to be statistically significant risk factors for anastomotic complications.

Rigid dilatation does not provide significant palliation in complex stenosis. Bronchoscopic measurements give closer results than CT measurements in the preoperative estimation of resection length. The risk of anastomotic complications increases when the length of the resection increases and when the surgical experience is less.