Rigid Bronchoscopy in Central Airway Obstructions = Rigid Bronchoscopy in Central Airway Obstructions

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of rigid bronchoscopy for alleviating central airway obstruction. Methods: Patients who had central airway obstructions and received a rigid bronchoscopy under general anesthesia from February 2008 to July 2012 at Chonnam National University Hospital were retrospectively reviewed. Results: Among 29 subjects, female patients comprised 62.1% (n=18), and median age was 63 (interquartile range [IQR] 53-69). The causes of airway obstruction include malignancy (n=14) and benign (n=15). Of the 15 benign lesions, 7 were benign tumors and 8 were benign strictures. In 13 cases of malignant airway obstruction, lung cancer was main cause (n=5). According to types of central airway obstruction caused by tumors, 8 were intraluminal, 3 were extraluminal, and 9 were mixed type. Most cases were located in trachea (n=20) and median degree of stenosis was 90% (IQR 88-95). Concerning about procedures, APC was applied in 16 cases, bougienation using with rigid bronchoscopy was applied in 16 cases, and silicone stent insertion was performed in 6 cases. All patients except 3 who had no dyspnea before procedure showed improvement in dyspnea and 9 of 10 who performed pulmonary function tests before and after bronchoscopy showed improvement in FEV1 (53 [IQR 37-68] vs 94 [IQR 83-110], % predicted, p=＜0.001 ). There were no procedure related acute complications and mortality. Conclusions: Rigid bronchoscopy was an effective and safe procedure to alleviate central airway obstructions.