Left pulmonary artery sling and congenital tracheal stenosis: to slide or not to slide?

Outcomes of not using tracheoplasty in asymptomatic tracheal stenosis found during open-heart surgery

OBJECTIVES

We aimed to review the outcomes of treating incidentally encountered asymptomatic airway stenosis during open-heart surgery conservatively without the use of tracheoplasty.

METHODS

Between January 2002 and October 2022, 25 patients were incidentally diagnosed with tracheal stenosis during open-heart surgery. Intraoperative bronchoscopy and/or laryngoscopy revealed tracheal stenosis; however, this was not consistent with the findings of the preoperative computed tomography. Patients who were diagnosed with a pulmonary artery or vascular sling or had moderate-to-severe respiratory symptoms before open-heart surgery were excluded.

RESULTS

The median age and weight of the patients at operation were 3.0 months and 5.1 kg, respectively. They were categorized as those having tracheal stenosis on preoperative computed tomography (n = 12) or not having tracheal stenosis (n = 13). The narrowest diameter was significantly smaller in the former group (3.0 vs 5.8 mm, P < 0.05). The rates of reintubation and the tracheostomy, and intubation days tended to be higher in former group without statistical significance. Stenotic degree improved 2 months and 1 year or more after the operation (39.3% at operation, 28.4% at 2 months, 12.5% after 1 year). All patients were Ross class 1 or 2 at follow-up (mean, 7.1 years).

CONCLUSIONS

Patients with tracheal stenosis showed tolerable long-term outcomes without using tracheoplasty. Accordingly, if tracheal stenosis, that would cause intubation difficulty, was incidentally revealed, concomitant tracheoplasty may not be required during open-heart surgery if the stenosis did not cause considerable symptoms or signs preoperatively.

Incidence of congenital tracheal stenosis in left pulmonary artery sling diagnosed by bronchoscopy

PURPOSE

Congenital tracheal stenosis (CTS) has been reported to occur in 50-65% of cases of left pulmonary artery sling (LPAS), but the exact incidence rate is unknown. This study aimed to determine the actual rate using bronchoscopy and to elucidate morphological features in computed tomography (CT) diagnosis.

METHODS

We performed a single institutional retrospective review of all patients with LPAS between January 2010 and March 2022. The percentage of complete tracheal rings in patients with LPAS was evaluated using bronchoscopy. The anteroposterior/lateral diameter ratios at the smallest and largest diameters of each CTS patient's trachea were measured on CT. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to analyze the differences between the two parts.

RESULTS

Fifty-two patients with LPAS were enrolled. All patients had complete tracheal rings on bronchoscopy. CT analysis of 32 patients with CTS was performed. The median anteroposterior/lateral diameter ratio at the smallest diameter was 1.05 (interquartile range [IQR] 0.95-1.15); the median ratio at the largest diameter was 0.94 (IQR 0.89-0.99). There was a significant difference between the two parts (p = 0.013).

CONCLUSION

CTS might be universally associated with LPAS. The circular tracheal cross-section on CT might imply the existence of a complete tracheal ring.

Postoperative nursing care of a child with pulmonary artery displacement combined with slide tracheobronchial plasty

BACKGROUND

Generally, pulmonary artery sling operation involves the pulmonary artery transplantation to be cut off. Nursing care is focused on the postoperative pulmonary vascular anastomosis, respiratory tract, and blood pressure after surgery. We report the case of an infant who underwent pulmonary artery tracheal transposition combined with Slide keratoplasty, where the pulmonary artery transplantation was not cut off. We highlight that postoperative pulmonary artery blood flow to the unobstructed airway and airway reconstruction surgery should be focused on to help children recover and ensure successful surgery.

METHODS

To report the postoperative nursing experience of one patient with pulmonary artery sling undergoing pulmonary tracheal transposition combined with Slide arthroplasty.

RESULTS

Throughout the postoperative care, airway management should be focused on to maintain circulation stability in the early postoperative period, and corresponding measures such as posture management, atomization inhalation, and improved chest physical therapy should be applied according to the special surgical method of the case in order to reduce airway complications and to improve the surgical success rate of children with pulmonary artery sling undergoing pulmonary tracheal transposition combined with Slide arthroplasty.

CONCLUSION

In similar cases, after pulmonary tracheal transposition and Slide angioplasty, the doctors and nurses should pay attention to early circulation stability and focus on airway management through careful treatment and nursing, so as to promote the child's recovery.

A Delayed Anatomic Diagnosis and Management Challenge in an Initially Asymptomatic Infant With Type II Pulmonary Artery Sling: A Case Report

Pulmonary artery sling (PAS) is a rare but fatal malformation. Patients with PAS tend to develop obstructive symptoms in few weeks of life. Conversely, some patients may be otherwise mild or asymptomatic in their early life. Currently, no consensus on the intervention timing and treatment strategy for asymptomatic and mild cases has been reached. Moreover, the extent of tracheal stenosis is another determining factor for the choice of intervention timing since clinical symptoms might not correspond well with the degree of stenosis. Lack of comprehensive assessment of entire airways confer underestimation of disease severity and in turn improper choice of treatment regimens and poor outcomes. Herein, we described an infantile case of PAS, who was scheduled initially for periodic outpatient follow-up on account of the absence of symptoms and inadequate imaging assessment at diagnosis. The patient developed recurrent wheezing and progressive respiratory distress at 7 months of age. After left pulmonary artery (LPA) reimplantation without tracheal intervention, bronchoscopy was performed due to failure to wean from mechanical ventilation, which demonstrated complete tracheal cartilage rings, a long segment tracheal stenosis, a low tracheal bifurcation at T6, and the absence of a separate right middle lobe bronchus. The patient was finally diagnosed with type IIb PAS and extubated successfully following conservative treatment. Miserably, neurological sequelae were devastating, leading to poor outcomes. Comprehensive airway evaluation using bronchoscopy is substantial to early identification of all components responsible for airway compromise in PAS anatomic subtypes. Considering severe concomitant maldevelopment of the bronchial tree in children with type IIb PAS, early and complete correction by surgery might decrease perioperative morbidities and mortalities of these patients.

Tracheoplasty for Patients with Pulmonary Artery Sling and Tracheal Stenosis: A Meta-Analysis

We performed this meta-analysis to assess the safety and efficacy of tracheoplasty for patients with pulmonary artery sling (PAS) and tracheal stenosis. Published studies that included surgical treatment of PAS and tracheal stenosis with and without tracheoplasty were identified by searching the PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library databases until May 2020. The outcomes assessed included postoperative ventilation time, early and late mortality, and follow-up respiratory symptoms. The mean difference (MD)/risk ratio (RR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) was estimated with a random-effects/fixed-effects model. Subgroup analysis was performed stratified by percentage of patients with tracheal rings. A total of eight studies comprising 219 patients with PAS accompanied by tracheal stenosis were included. The pooled estimates of postoperative ventilation time (MD 17.68, 95% CI 6.38 to 28.98, p < 0.01) and early mortality (RR 3.93, 95% CI 1.55 to 9.95, p < 0.01) favored the repair-only group. Late mortality (RR 1.33, 95% CI 0.48 to 3.68, p = 0.58) and respiratory symptoms (RR 1.51, 95% CI 0.50 to 4.57, p = 0.47) at follow-up showed no significant differences between the groups with repair-only and repair with tracheoplasty. The same results were found in subgroup analyses. For the surgical treatment of PAS with tracheal stenosis, repair without tracheoplasty appears to result in shorter postoperative ventilation time and lower early mortality, with no increase in late mortality or respiratory symptoms at follow-up, compared with concomitant tracheoplasty.

Congenital tracheal stenosis & associated cardiac anomalies: operative management & techniques

Congenital tracheal stenosis can lead to symptomatic airway obstruction in children and often mandates surgical correction. Over the past half-century, numerous tracheal reconstruction techniques have been developed, including tracheal resection with end-to-end anastomosis (for short-segment complete tracheal stenosis), patch tracheoplasty, slide tracheoplasty, and homograft and autograft augmentation repairs. However, operative management of congenital tracheal stenosis is often complicated by the presence of congenital heart disease, the most common of which is pulmonary artery sling. When present concomitantly, combined repair of both defects is feasible and is currently the preferred approach. Questions have been raised about the optimal timing and sequence of surgery, and some have advocated staged repair for patients with complex associated cardiac lesions. However, evidence from the past two decades suggests that concomitant repair can be performed with excellent results. The current standard of care involves the use of cardiopulmonary bypass to simultaneously repair the tracheal defect using slide tracheoplasty and all associated cardiac anomalies. Advances in operative techniques and extracorporeal circulation, progressive understanding of the pathological basis of combined congenital tracheal and cardiac disease, and a multidisciplinary approach to patient care have all contributed to the successful outcomes seen in the modern era. This article describes the combined surgical correction of tracheal stenosis and double-outlet right ventricle-tetralogy of Fallot type in an infant, provides a detailed step-by-step description for performing a slide tracheoplasty along with various other less favored tracheoplasty techniques, and reviews the current literature discussing such combined repairs.

Surgical reconstruction for congenital tracheal malformation and pulmonary artery sling

Background

Congenital tracheal malformations are less common than congenital cardiac diseases and surgical repair of these anomalies is complex. We sought to examine the surgical treatment and outcomes in cases of tracheal anomalies presenting with or without associated congenital malformations.

Methods

We retrospectively reviewed the demographic, clinical, and imaging data of 49 children who underwent surgery for congenital tracheal malformations between August 2013 and September 2017. Data were collected from the hospital records.

Results

In all, 49 patients (male, 30; female, 19) underwent surgeries at our center. The children were of ages between 3 and 36 months (average: 9.7 months). Associated congenital lesions included sling in31/49 (63%), vascularring: in 2/49; ventriculoseptaldefectin5/49; Fallot’s tetraology in 2/49 (4.1%), and imperforate anus in 3/49 (6.1%). The outcomes of surgery were excellent in 42(85.7%) cases, good in 3 cases, while mortality occurred in 4(8.1%) cases. All cases of tracheal stenosis without any change in tracheobronchial arborization, 10/12 cases of bridge carina, and all cases of tripod carina were reconstructed using the slide tracheoplasty technique. Antetracheal translocation was performed for correction of associated pulmonary sling, without reimplantation of the pulmonary artery.

Conclusions

Reconstructive surgery is a feasible treatment option for congenital tracheal malformations. Slide tracheoplasty can be safely applied in all cases for the correction of tracheal stenosis. Segment resection was not required for any portion of the trachea. Pulmonary artery translocation is safe and effective for patients with pulmonary artery sling, rather than reimplantation. Mortality was associated with severe cardiac complications.