Tracheobronchial stent placement

  Tracheobronchial stenting is mainly aimed at palliative treatment of tracheobronchial stenosis caused by malignant tumors, in order to quickly relieve the patient’s symptoms of dyspnea and create conditions and opportunities for subsequent treatment. There are many lesions that can cause tracheobronchial stenosis, the common ones include thyroid cancer, goiter, mediastinal tumor, central lung cancer, esophageal cancer, metastasis of hilar lymph nodes and other malignant lesions due to compression, benign lesions include endobronchial tuberculosis, recurrent polychondritis, long-term tracheal intubation and anastomotic stenosis after surgery.  For tracheobronchial stenosis caused by malignant lesions, metal stents are usually required; for stenosis caused by benign lesions, balloon dilation can be performed, and stents should be placed with great caution. Because patients will have a certain foreign body sensation and cough and sputum after metal stent placement, and the stent will be restenosed in the long term due to granulation tissue proliferation or tumor growth, stent placement is generally not recommended for benign lesions, and should be combined with tumor-specific treatment measures such as radiotherapy for malignant tumors as much as possible.  The placement of tracheobronchial stent can be done through bronchoscopy, but generally it can be placed under X-ray fluoroscopy, which is accurate in positioning and simpler in technical operation.