2025 Volume 3 Issue 1 Pages 12-17
Background: Central airway obstruction caused by benign or malignant diseases can be life-threatening. Selecting the optimal therapeutic bronchoscopy technique is critical, particularly when re-intervention is required. This study reviews various bronchoscopy modalities for initial and re-intervention procedures in patients with central airway disorders.
Materials and Methods: A retrospective review was conducted on patients with central airway disorders who underwent therapeutic bronchoscopy between May 2005 and January 2018 at a single institution.
Results: A total of 359 therapeutic bronchoscopy procedures (119 benign and 240 malignant cases) were performed in 234 patients; of these, 337 airway stents were placed in 235 procedures. Silicone stents were used in 31 (38.8%) benign and 28 (10.9%) malignant cases. Additionally, 108 non-stenting procedures and 16 stent removal procedures were performed. First interventions comprised 205 procedures (57.1%), while 154 procedures (42.9%) were re-interventions. Re-intervention was performed in 79 (66.4%) benign and 75 (31.3%) malignant cases, indicating that it was significantly more common in benign cases (p < 0.0001). In benign cases, re-interventions were primarily due to granulation tissue formation after stenting (n = 29) and recurrence of scar stricture (n = 23). In malignant cases, tumor regrowth (n = 42) and granulation tissue formation after stenting (n = 17) were the main causes.
Conclusions: Various interventional procedures were applied to patients with central airway disorders. Repeated therapeutic bronchoscopy is often required because of disease progression or procedure-related complications. Benign diseases had a higher re-intervention rate, highlighting the importance of long-term management and follow-up.
