Airway obstruction owing to tracheopathia osteoplastica: Treatment by linear tracheoplasty

Background. Tracheopathia osteoplastica is a rare disease that may involve the entire trachea and progress to critical airway obstruction. It is not dilatable and does not respond to laser therapy or bronchoscopic curettage. Stents usually cannot be inserted. Methods. Lack of involvement of the membranous wall by the disease allows tracheal widening after complete linear tracheoplasty. Opening is preserved during healing by prolonged stenting with a T or T-Y silicone tube. Results. Stent removal after firm healing produced long-term correction of stenosis in 3 of 4 patients, examined up to 12 years. Conclusions. Severe, symptomatic tracheal obstruction by tracheopathia osteoplastica is definitively surgically correctible. (c) 2005 by The Society of Thoracic Surgeons.