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Endobronchial argon plasma coagulation for the management of post‐intubation tracheal stenosis
Author(s) -
YASUO Masanori,
TANABE Tsuyoshi,
TSUSHIMA Kenji,
NAKAMURA Masaru,
KANDA Shintaro,
KOMATSU Yoshimichi,
YAMAZAKI Seiichi,
ITO Michiko,
FURUYA Shino,
YOSHIKAWA Sumiko,
KUBO Keishi,
KAWAKAMI Satoshi,
YAMAZAKI Yoshitaka
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
respirology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.857
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1440-1843
pISSN - 1323-7799
DOI - 10.1111/j.1440-1843.2006.00908.x
Subject(s) - medicine , argon plasma coagulation , tracheal stenosis , intubation , bronchoscopy , stenosis , surgery , airway , tracheomalacia , tracheal intubation , cuff , radiology , endoscopy
Post‐intubation tracheal stenosis is usually caused by pressure necrosis at the cuff. Despite the fact that this phenomenon is well known and both large volume and low pressure cuffs have been developed, this lesion nevertheless continues to occur. Although the best results for tracheal reconstruction are obtained by an experienced surgeon, not all patients are able to undergo this operation for either medical or personal reasons. Argon plasma coagulation (APC) using flexible bronchoscopy has been successfully employed in the treatment of post‐intubation tracheal stenosis in two of the surgery‐refused and inoperable patients. The patients immediately experienced a relief of symptoms after APC. APC was thus performed 3–4 times every 1–2 weeks for each patient. In addition, there were no complications related to this procedure. The number of published clinical reports describing APC in benign airway stenosis are increasing. APC has also been reported to have several advantages over other interventional endobronchial techniques in the management of tracheo‐bronchial stenosis. We report two patients, and to our knowledge this is the first description of APC being used in the treatment of endobronchial dilatation for post‐intubation tracheal stenosis.