Endoscopic treatment of thoracic tracheal stenosis with T-tube through tracheotomy opening in six patients

Cervical or thoracic trauma,tracheotomy and tracheal intubation for mechanical ventilation therapy are the main reasons of tracheal stenosis.Recently the incidence of tracheal stenosis is gradually increasing.Tracheal stenosis is an irreversible,progressive disease and the only effective treatment is surgical removal of stenosis tissue to restore normal tracheal lumen.From January 2008 to April 2011,6 patients with thoracic tracheal stenosis in our department underwent tracheotomy and T-tube stent implantation by endoscope with good results.There were 5 male and 1 female patients,aging from 23 to 71 years and the median age was 44 years.The onset time was 1-4 months.Five patients who had undergone general anesthesia surgery and tracheal intubation for 2 to 5 days suffered from progressive dyspnea.One of them had received laser therapy and metal alloy stent therapy but still suffered from tracheal stenosis.