title: Initial experience of endobronchial silicon stents from a tertiary care centre in North India.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Central airway obstruction (CAO) is defined as obstruction of trachea and principal bronchi. Therapeutic rigid bronchoscopy with tracheobronchial stenting using silicon stents is a well established procedure in the management of such conditions. However, there is limited experience with this technique in India.
  
  
  METHODS
  Between January 2010 and April 2010, Dumon stents were placed in four patients with CAO. Three patients had symptomatic tracheal stenosis while one patient had malignant obstruction at the carina. Rigid bronchoscopy under general anaesthesia was performed to relieve the CAO followed by placement of silicon stents. Pre- and post-stent placement symptom assessment was performed with a symptom-based visual analogue scale.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Four patients underwent silicon stent placement in the tracheobronchial tree. Three patients had benign post-intubation tracheal stenosis and one had malignant tracheal obstruction at carina due to endobronchial growth. Significant improvement was achieved in all patients. There were no significant complications.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Rigid bronchoscopy with silicon stent placement is an effective and suitable method of relieving the distressing symptoms due to benign or malignant airway obstruction.
authors.affiliation: DepartmentS of Pulmonary Medicine, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Agarwal
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Khan
authors.forename: A N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Aggarwal
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bhagat
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.forename: L N
authors.initials: LN
authors.lastname: Yaddanapudi
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sethi
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Khandelwal
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gupta
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000402:Airway Obstruction / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery*; D001980:Bronchi / Q000601:surgery; D001999:Bronchoscopy / Q000009:adverse effects; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D007442:Intubation, Intratracheal / Q000009:adverse effects; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015607:Stents; D014132:Trachea / Q000601:surgery; D014134:Tracheal Neoplasms / Q000150:complications / Q000601:surgery; D014135:Tracheal Stenosis / Q000150:complications / Q000601:surgery; D055815:Young Adult