Slide tracheoplasty for congenital tracheal stenosis with involvement of the carina and bronchi: a case report

A female newborn presented with respiratory distress at birth and was diagnosed with congenital tracheal stenosis. The stenosis was positioned at the distal trachea and compromised the carina and the right and left bronchi. She underwent surgical treatment using circulatory life support with veno-arterial peripheral extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, and the airway was reconstructed using the slide tracheoplasty technique to build a neocarina. The patient had an excellent postoperative course, was successfully weaned from extracorporeal membrane oxygenation and invasive ventilation, and was discharged.

One-stoma carinoplasty: right upper sleeve lobectomy with hemicarinectomy for resection of right-tracheobronchial-angle tumors

Tracheobronchial-angle tumors involve the right main bronchus, the right upper lobar bronchus, and the lateral wall of the lower trachea. Resecting these tumors is one of the most complex procedures in thoracic surgery. In cases of high-caliber mismatch, the selection of a suitable anastomotic technique can be challenging. We found that our use of a one-stoma carinoplasty technique overcame high-caliber mismatch after the resection of these tumors. From 2009 through 2012, 8 men (mean age, 59 ± 6.2 yr; range, 46-66 yr) underwent complete resection of non-small-cell right-tracheobronchial-angle tumors at our institution. In every case, right upper sleeve lobectomy, wedge carinal resection, and one-stoma carinoplasty were applied. After tumor resection, one patient with hemoptysis and bronchopleural fistula underwent a completion pneumonectomy and died 10 days postoperatively. Bronchoscopy was necessary in 2 patients who had atelectasis in the contralateral lung. At a mean follow-up duration of 19.43 ± 8.4 months (range, 0.2-27.1 mo), 6 patients were alive and free of disease. We conclude that our one-stoma carinoplasty technique enables the resection of tumors at the right tracheobronchial angle, with acceptable morbidity and mortality rates. This method saves the unaffected part of the ipsilateral lung and can overcome high-caliber mismatch. Because of these and other advantages, we suggest that using our method first might preclude having to perform a right carinal sleeve pneumonectomy or using Barclay's method.

Repair of long-segment congenital tracheal stenosis

Long-segment tracheal stenosis in infants and small children is difficult to manage and can be life-threatening. A retrospective review of 12 patients who underwent surgery for congenital tracheal stenosis between 1996 and 2004 was conducted. The patients' median age was 3.6 months. All patients had diffuse tracheal stenosis involving 40-61% (median, 50%) of the length of the trachea, which was suspected to be associated with complete tracheal ring. Five patients had proximal bronchial stenosis also. Ten patients had associated cardiac anomalies. Three different techniques were performed; pericardial patch tracheoplasty (n=4), tracheal autograft tracheoplasty (n=6), and slide tracheoplasty (n=2). After pericardial tracheoplasty, there were 2 early and 2 late deaths. All patients survived after autograft and slide tracheoplasty except one who died of pneumonia one year after the autograft tracheoplasty. The duration of ventilator support was 6-40 days after autograft and 6-7 days after slide tracheoplasty. The duration of hospital stay was 13-266 days after autograft and 19-21 days after slide tracheoplasty. Repeated bronchoscopic examinations were required after pericardial and autograft tracheoplasty. These data demonstrate that pericardial patch tracheoplasty show poor results, whereas autograft or slide tracheoplasty gives excellent short- and long-term results.