title: Surgical management of airway stenosis by radiofrequency coblation.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Acquired airway stenosis can be challenging to manage endoscopically because of difficult field visualisation, instrument limitations and the risk of laser fire. At our institution, radiofrequency coblation has been successfully used for the resection of subglottic and tracheal stenosis in adults. This paper presents our experience with this technique.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective case note analysis of all cases of airway stenosis in adults from 2007 to 2012 was performed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Ten adult patients underwent coblation resection for airway stenosis. All lesions were classified as McCaffrey stage I (i.e. less than 1 cm long). Causes of stenosis included: idiopathic stenosis (40 per cent), previous tracheostomy (30 per cent) and endotracheal intubation (20 per cent). Six patients (60 per cent) required a single procedure and 4 (40 per cent) required multiple interventions. All patients reported significant improvement in their symptoms following treatment. All patients were alive at the time of writing and none have required open resection.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Radiofrequency coblation is an attractive alternative technique for the treatment of idiopathic or acquired airway stenosis in adults.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery,Flinders Medical Centre and Flinders University,Adelaide,South Australia,Australia.
authors.forename: C L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery,Flinders Medical Centre and Flinders University,Adelaide,South Australia,Australia.
authors.forename: C A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Frauenfelder
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery,Flinders Medical Centre and Flinders University,Adelaide,South Australia,Australia.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Foreman
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery,Flinders Medical Centre and Flinders University,Adelaide,South Australia,Australia.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Athanasiadis
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery,Flinders Medical Centre and Flinders University,Adelaide,South Australia,Australia.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ooi
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery,Flinders Medical Centre and Flinders University,Adelaide,South Australia,Australia.
authors.forename: A S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Carney
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000402:Airway Obstruction / Q000601:surgery*; D017115:Catheter Ablation / Q000379:methods*; D003251:Constriction, Pathologic / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007829:Laryngostenosis / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014135:Tracheal Stenosis / Q000601:surgery*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Endoscopy