Abstract
Forty-one cases of laryngotracheal stenosis were treated with silicone T-tubes. Causes of stenosis were post-intubation in 6, laryngotracheal tuberculosis in 3, complications after tracheoplasty in 2, relapsing polychondritis in 2, burns in 1, and malignant tumor invasion in 27 (14 thyroid cancers, 6 esophageal cancers, 5 lung cancers, and 2 tracheal cancers). Lesions of 5 patients with post-intubation stenosis and one patient with anastomotic stenosis after tracheoplasty healed with treatment by only T-tubes, within one year. In a patient with tuberculosis and the one with burns, their stenotic lesions were repaired by stenting only, for 4 to 7 years. In the other two patients with tuberculosis, T-tubes could not be removed due to malacia or granulation, despite insertion for 2 to 8 years. T-tubes applied in two cases with relapsing polychondritis improved the quality of life of the subjects by providing satisfactory airway patency. T-tubes placed into stenotic lesions, due to malignant tumor invasion, also relieved those patients from dyspnea and improved their quality of life immediately after insertion.
