[Endoscopic treatment of post-intubation tracheal stenosis. Apropos of 58 cases]

Abstract

Over a period of 6 years, 58 patients aged between 55 +/- 16 years have been treated for post-intubation tracheal stenosis (STPI). These patients were characterised by their frequency of an underlying respiratory or cardiac failure, a duration of intubation which was sometimes short and a delay between the extubation and the detection of stenosis which was les than one month in about one half of the cases. Thirty of the 58 patients presented with respiratory distress on admission. All the stenoses were treated initially by mechanical dilatation using a rigid bronchoscope. Radial incisions using an Nd-Yag laser were performed when necessary to facilitate the dilatation. The great majority of stenoses which were not fitted up with a tracheal endoprosthesis (EPT) at the first attempt recurred, leading to repeated therapeutic bronchoscopies (221 sessions in all). Fitting an EPT (Dumon prosthesis) was necessary in 35 cases on 12 occasions at the first attempt with the first bronchoscopy, and 23 times following a recurrence. Amongst the recurring stenoses a stabilisation was obtained at the price of repeated dilatations (4.3 sessions on average in only nine patients). Seven patients finally had a surgical resection and anastamosis of the trachea, of whom four had a transitory instillation of an EPT for the stenosis. The removal of the EPT was later attempted in 11 patients. Four did not present with any symptomatic recurrence. The secondary migration of the EPT is in practice one of the main inconveniences of the silicon prosthesis (8 cases now experienced). Our approach, which used to favour the mechanical dilatation has lead to a relatively high number of failures and thus to repeated bronchoscopies. This has lead us to re-define our therapeutic approach. The current schema which we propose is in the course of being validated in which we use EPT and surgical repair of the trachea more often. Only short stenoses (less than 1 cm) with a diaphragm are treated by dilatation and laser. The others are fitted initially with an EPT. The final management is guided by the progress in the stenosis, the tolerance of the endoprosthesis and the operability of the patients.