An external support technique for the malacic trachea--treatment of tracheomalacia.
A 76-year-old woman was found to have a large, substernal, intrathoracic goiter. During excision, the trachea was found to be malacic. The trachea was sutured to a 16-mm ringed Gore-Tex (Gore & Associates, Arizona, USA) graft with Vicryl (Ethicon, Johnson & Johnson, USA) sutures. The graft was placed on the external surface of the trachea and surrounded the trachea almost 300 degrees. The patient was discharged on postoperative day seven without complications. She was seen at follow-up six months later and found to be free of complications.
Toker
A
A
Istanbul University, Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, Department of Thoracic Surgery, Istanbul, Turkey.
Eroglu
O
O
Tanju
S
S
Dilege
S
S
Kalayci
G
G
D000368:Aged; D001807:Blood Vessel Prosthesis; D005260:Female; D006045:Goiter, Substernal / Q000150:complications* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D019616:Thoracic Surgical Procedures / Q000379:methods*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D014133:Tracheal Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery*