Therapeutic efficacy of silicone stent in subglottic stenosis

W. Rao^a (Dr), S. Li^a (Dr), Z. Su*^a (Dr)

^a The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Guangzhou, CHINA

* py1011xiaoquan@163.com

Background: Due to the special location of subglottic stenosis, surgical treatment is prone to cause recurrent laryngeal nerve palsy and other complications. A stent implantation is implemented as a method for treating subglottic stenosis, but its efficacy and safety are still unclear.

Objective: To investigate the safety and efficacy of silicone stents in the treatment of subglottic stenosis.

Method: Twenty-five patients with subglottic stenosis (Meyer-Cotton grade III-IV), who underwent fluoroscopically guided placement of silicone stents were recruited and studied, in terms of etiology, clinical efficacy, and related complications.

Results: Twenty-five patients received 32 silicone stents implantation. Stents removal was achieved in 8 patients who were intolerant to stents placement. The duration of stent placement was 523.5 days (range 24-748 days). After stent removal, airway caliber was increased and airway obstruction was symptomatically relieved in all patients. The effective rate was 70% while the failure rate was 5%. Stent-related complications occurred in 20 (84%) patients, including granulation tissue (n=10, 45.5%), mucus plugging (n=10, 45.5%) and stent migration (n=2, 9%) during the median follow-up time of 379 days. Greater than one-grade improvement in Hugh-Jones classification was seen in patients after stent removal.

Conclusion: Silicone stents implantation is safe and effective in treating subglottic stenosis. Whereas, the stent-related complications should be processed promptly and received follow-up with intensive observation.

Disclosure of funding source(s): none