Threatening Airway Obstruction by Mediastinal Masses: The Experience of a Medical Intensive Care Unit:

摘要

Objective:Life-threatening airway obstruction is a dreaded complication of mediastinal masses. The acute management is difficult and catastrophic outcomes have been reported. We describe our experience in a Medical Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and discuss the management options.Design:Retrospective observational study.Setting:1,600-bed tertiary-care hospital.Patients and Participants:13 patients were treated between January 1996 and February 2010.Interventions:All patients were mechanically ventilated. Three received emergent chemotherapy, 10 underwent airway stenting and 2 underwent surgery.Measurements and Results:The median age was 51 years (range 13 to 64). In 5 patients (36%), the diagnosis was only made after ICU admission. Two had benign pathologies (retrosternal goitre and bronchogenic cyst) and 3 had lymphoma. The remaining 8 had metastatic mediastinal lymphadenopathy. All were successfully weaned off the ventilator (range 0 to 5 days). All patients with benign pathologies and lymphoma were still al...