Diagnosis and management of an elderly patient with severe tracheomalacia: A case report and review of the literature

Automatic segmentation and measurement of tracheal collapsibility in tracheomalacia

PURPOSE

To assess feasibility of automated segmentation and measurement of tracheal collapsibility for detecting tracheomalacia on inspiratory and expiratory chest CT images.

METHODS

Our study included 123 patients (age 67 ± 11 years; female: male 69:54) who underwent clinically indicated chest CT examinations in both inspiration and expiration phases. A thoracic radiologist measured anteroposterior length of trachea in inspiration and expiration phase image at the level of maximum collapsibility or aortic arch (in absence of luminal change). Separately, another investigator separately processed the inspiratory and expiratory DICOM CT images with Airway Segmentation component of a commercial COPD software (IntelliSpace Portal, Philips Healthcare). Upon segmentation, the software automatically estimated average lumen diameter (in mm) and lumen area (sq.mm) both along the entire length of trachea and at the level of aortic arch. Data were analyzed with independent t-tests and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC).

RESULTS

Of the 123 patients, 48 patients had tracheomalacia and 75 patients did not. Ratios of inspiration to expiration phases average lumen area and lumen diameter from the length of trachea had the highest AUC of 0.93 (95% CI = 0.88-0.97) for differentiating presence and absence of tracheomalacia. A decrease of ≥25% in average lumen diameter had sensitivity of 82% and specificity of 87% for detecting tracheomalacia. A decrease of ≥40% in the average lumen area had sensitivity and specificity of 86% for detecting tracheomalacia.

CONCLUSION

Automatic segmentation and measurement of tracheal dimension over the entire tracheal length is more accurate than a single-level measurement for detecting tracheomalacia.

Improving Airways Patency and Ventilation Through Optimal Positive Pressure Identified by Noninvasive Mechanical Ventilation Titration in Mounier-Kuhn Syndrome: Protocol for an Interventional, Open-Label, Single-Arm Clinical Trial

BACKGROUND

Mounier-Kuhn syndrome or congenital tracheobronchomegaly is a rare disease characterized by dilation of the trachea and the main bronchi within the thoracic cavity. The predominant signs and symptoms of the disease include coughing, purulent and abundant expectoration, dyspnea, snoring, wheezing, and recurrent respiratory infection. Symptoms of the disease in some patients are believed to be pathological manifestations arising due to resident tracheobronchomalacia. Although treatment options used for the management of this disease include inhaled bronchodilators, corticosteroids, and hypertonic solution, there is no consensus on the treatment. The use of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) has been reported as a potential therapeutic option for tracheobronchomalacia, but no prospective studies have demonstrated its efficacy in this condition.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this is to identify the presence of tracheobronchomalacia and an optimal CPAP pressure that reduces the tracheobronchial collapse in patients with Mounier-Kuhn syndrome and to analyze the repercussion in pulmonary ventilation. In parallel, we aim to evaluate the prevalence of obstructive sleep apnea/hypopnea syndrome.

METHODS

This interventional, open-label, single-arm clinical trial will enroll patients who are diagnosed Mounier-Kuhn syndrome. Patient evaluation will be conducted in an outpatient clinic and involve 3 visits. Visit 1 will involve the collection and registration of social demographic, clinical, and functional data. Visit 2 will entail polysomnography, bronchoscopy for the evaluation of tracheobronchomalacia, titration of the optimal pressure that reduces the degree of collapse of the airway, and electrical impedance tomography. In visit 3, patients exhibiting a reduction in collapse areas will be requested to undergo chest computed tomography during inspiration and forced expiration with and without positive pressure (titrated to determine optimal CPAP pressure).

RESULTS

This protocol is a doctorate project. The project was submitted to the institutional review board on January 24, 2017, and approval was granted on February 2, 2017 (Brazilian Research database number CAAE 64001317.4.000.0068). Patient evaluations started in April 2018. Planned recruitment is based on volunteers' availability and clinical stability, and interventions will be conducted at least once a month to finish the project at the end of 2020. A preliminary analysis of each case will be performed after each intervention, but detailed results are expected to be reported in the first quarter of 2021.

CONCLUSIONS

There is no consensus on the best treatment options for managing Mounier-Kuhn syndrome. The use of positive pressure could maintain patency of the collapsed airways, functioning as a "pneumatic stent" to reduce the degree of airflow obstruction. This, in turn, could promote mobilization of thoracic secretion and improve pulmonary ventilation.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

ClinicalTrails.gov NCT03101059; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03101059.

INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID)

DERR1-10.2196/14786.

"Tracheomalacia after Thyroidectomy," Does it Truly Exist?

Aim:

Tracheomalacia is a potentially life-threatening, but a rare complication of thyroidectomy. In previous studies, the incidence rate was very different. Considering the relatively high prevalence of goiter and thyroidectomy in the West Azerbaijan region, we designed this study to determine the tracheomalacia incidence in patients who underwent thyroidectomy within a 10-year interval.

Materials and Methods:

This retrospective study was done in Urmia Imam Khomeini Hospital in West Azarbayjan Province. Demographic characteristics including the age and sex of patients who underwent thyroidectomy between 2007 and 2017 and also the incidence of tracheomalacia after surgery were recorded.

Results:

From 2007 to 2017, total 1236 thyroidectomy were performed. The patients’ age ranged from 15 to 83-year-old with a mean age of patients was 44.5 ± 13.81 years old. Two hundred and twenty-nine patients (19%) were male and 1007 (81%) were female. We did not find any cases of tracheomalacia after thyroidectomy in our study population.

Conclusion:

Based on the results of this study, it seems that with the necessary precautions, the incidence of tracheomalacia can reach zero.

Implantation of 125I radioactive seeds via c-TBNA combined with chemotherapy in an advanced non-small-cell lung carcinoma patient

Background

The critical management of advanced non-small-cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC), especially when complicated by severe airway stenosis, is difficult and often leads to high clinical risks and medical costs.

Case presentation

A 51-year-old previously healthy male was admitted to the Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Taizhou People’s Hospital, in November 2018 for haemoptysis and difficulty breathing during a 15-d period. Following admission, chest computed tomography (CT) showed a large mass in the left hilum with atelectasis in the left upper lobe and obstructive pneumonia in the left lower lobe. Bronchoscopy revealed that the lesions occurred in the distal segment of the left main trachea, with occlusion of the left upper bronchus and significant narrowing of the lower bronchus. A basal mucosal biopsy of the lump tissue was performed after haemostasis treatment with sub-plasma coagulation (APC), and squamous lung carcinoma was confirmed. Following the final diagnosis, the patient was successfully treated with implantation of ¹²⁵I radioactive seeds via transbronchial needle aspiration (c-TBNA) combined with chemotherapy.

Conclusion

We believe that implantation of ¹²⁵I radioactive seeds via c-TBNA is an effective treatment for patients with advanced lung cancer and those presenting with severe and mixed main bronchus stenosis.

Noninvasive Ventilation as a Temporizing Measure in Critical Fixed Central Airway Obstruction: A Case Report

BACKGROUND

Critical central airway obstruction (CAO) requires emergent airway intervention, but current guidelines lack specific recommendations for airway management in the emergency department (ED) while awaiting rigid bronchoscopy. There are few reports of the use of noninvasive ventilation (NIV) in tracheomalacia, but its use as a temporizing treatment option in fixed, malignant CAO has not, to the best of our knowledge, been reported.

CASE REPORT

An 84-year-old woman presented to the ED in respiratory distress, too breathless to speak and using her accessory muscles of respiration, with bilateral rhonchi throughout the lung fields. Point-of-care arterial blood gas revealed severe hypercapnia, and NIV was initiated to treat a presumed bronchitis with hypercapnic respiratory failure. Chest radiography revealed a paratracheal mass with tracheal deviation and compression. A diagnosis of critical CAO was made. While arranging for rigid bronchoscopic stenting, the patient was kept on NIV to good effect. WHY SHOULD AN EMERGENCY PHYSICIAN BE AWARE OF THIS?: Recommendations for emergent treatment of life-threatening, critical CAO before bronchoscopic intervention are not well established. Furthermore, reports of NIV use in CAO are rare. We suggest that emergency physicians consider NIV as a temporizing measure for critical CAO while awaiting availability of bronchoscopy.

Transtracheal single-point stent fixation in posttracheotomy tracheomalacia under cone-beam computer tomography guidance by transmural suturing with the Berci needle - a perspective on a new tool to avoid stent migration of Dumon stents

Tracheomalacia or tracheobronchomalacia (TM or TBM) is a common problem especially for elderly patients often unfit for surgical techniques. Several surgical or minimally invasive techniques have already been described. Stenting is one option but in general long-time stenting is accompanied by a high complication rate. Stent removal is more difficult in case of self-expandable nitinol stents or metallic stents in general in comparison to silicone stents. The main disadvantage of silicone stents in comparison to uncovered metallic stents is migration and plugging. We compared the operation time and in particular the duration of a sufficient Dumon stent fixation with different techniques in a patient with severe posttracheotomy TM and strongly reduced mobility of the vocal cords due to Parkinson’s disease. The combined approach with simultaneous Dumon stenting and endoluminal transtracheal externalized suture under cone-beam computer tomography guidance with the Berci needle was by far the fastest approach compared to a (not performed) surgical intervention, or even purely endoluminal suturing through the rigid bronchoscope. The duration of the endoluminal transtracheal externalized suture was between 5 minutes and 9 minutes with the Berci needle; the pure endoluminal approach needed 51 minutes. The alternative of tracheobronchoplasty was refused by the patient. In general, 180 minutes for this surgical approach is calculated. The costs of the different approaches are supposed to vary widely due to the fact that in Germany 1 minute in an operation room costs on average approximately 50–60€ inclusive of taxes. In our own hospital (tertiary level), it is nearly 30€ per minute in an operation room for a surgical approach. Calculating an additional 15 minutes for patient preparation and transfer to wake-up room, therefore a total duration inside the investigation room of 30 minutes, the cost per flexible bronchoscopy is per minute on average less than 6€. Although the Dumon stenting requires a set-up with more expensive anesthesiology accompaniment, which takes longer than a flexible investigation estimated at 1 hour in an operation room, still without calculation of the costs of the materials and specialized staff that the surgical approach would consume at least 3,000€ more than a minimally invasive approach performed with the Berci needle. This difference is due to the longer time of the surgical intervention which is calculated at approximately 180 minutes in comparison to the achieved non-surgical approach of 60 minutes in the operation suite.

Surgical management of mediastinal goiter in the elderly

AIM

Mediastinal goiter (MG) is characterized by compression symptoms such choking, dyspnea, sleeping apnea and dysphagia. It is significantly observed in elderly patients who due to comorbidity are associated to increased surgical risk. Total thyroidectomy is indicated to treat tracheal compression. Cervicotomy is the most used surgical access. AIM of the study was the evaluation of the role of surgery in the treatment of MG in the elderly.

METHODS

A retrospective analysis of twenty-eight-years on 1721 (390 over 80-years-old) cases of MG in a referral center for endocrine surgery was carried out. CT was used as a standard in the preoperative study. Surgery was performed by an experienced surgical team with standard technique via cervical approach or in selected cases via sternotomy or thoracotomy. Clinical records were examined.

RESULTS

Patients were divided into two groups: older and younger than 80-years-old. Total thyroidectomy was performed in all cases and via a cervical approach in almost 99% of patients. Tracheal dislocation and tracheomalacia were prevalent in elderly patients and were treated conservatively. Benign struma was observed in 1463 patients and a carcinoma in 258. Larger thyroid weight was observed in the elderly. The rate of complications was similar between groups.

CONCLUSION

Total thyroidectomy via cervical approach is the treatment of choice for MG in the elderly. It should be treated only in referral centers with adequate caution for elderly patients to achieve complete cure with limited complications.