Balloon-guided, tapered, Polyflex stent guidance: an atraumatic technique for successful stent placement through tight, rigid airway stenoses.

摘要

Benign airway strictures are often effectively treated with sequential dilation. However, when this is not successful, or in cases of frequent stricture recurrence, retrievable stenting can relieve symptoms as well as allow for airway remodeling, resulting in a less stenotic lumen. Anastomotic strictures are often difficult to dilate owing to fibrosis and suture reaction. Reoperation in these cases is often extremely challenging owing to the limited length of airway remaining after the first operation. In these cases, we prefer to use silicone stents after dilation to allow stricture remodeling. The Polyflex self-expanding polyester/silicone airway stent (Boston Scientific, Boston, Mass) works well for these challenging cases because it is completely covered, thin-walled, and does not contain any metallic elements.