Peritracheal fibrosis induced by sclerosing agents: a putative treatment for tracheomalacia

Tracheomalacia is a congenital or acquired deficiency of the cartilages of the trachea. Treatment procedures include formation of external support by insertion of cartilage; bone for foreign material into the peritracheal tissue. A sclerosing agent, sodium morrhuate, was injected in the peritracheal tissue, blindly or after skin incision and subcutaneous tissue. In both groups peritracheal granulation tissue and inflammation evolved into peritracheal fibrosis surrounding the cartilage at the site of injection. The reaction was more pronounced following incision of the skin. No fibrosis was observed in a control group following hypertonic saline injection. The results suggest that injection of sclerosing agents might be considered as a conservative mode of treatment in tracheomalacia, by producing peritracheal fibrosis as external support.