Abstract
We have seen 53 cases of tracheoplasty in patients more than 65 years old. Fourty-nine cases (92.6%) involved neoplastic disease. The major diseases were thyroid cancer invading the trachea and lung cancer invading the lower trachea or tracheal carina. Only 11 cases out of the 53 patients required standard tracheoplasty with direct anastomosis between tracheal stomas after a circumferential resection of less than 7 tracheal cartridge rings. The remaining patients required specific operative modes of tracheoplasty which include laryngotracheoplasty (LT), terminal mediastinal tracheostomy (TMT), carinoplasty and tracheobronchial anastomosis (TB). The morbidity rate for postoperative complications was 14.7%, which was significantly higher than that in the total number of cases of tracheobronchoplasty which we saw.
