Introduction:

Benign central airway obstruction (BCAO) management remains a challenge. We describe the results with the use of argon plasma coagulation (APC) in BCAO.

Methods:

Retrospective case series analysis.

Results:

Twenty patients with BCAO were treated in a two-year period. With a mean age of 38.9 ± 12.8 years; twelve were women. BCAO was secondary to intubation (n = 10), infection (n = 4), tracheoplasty (n = 2); lobectomy (n = 1); inflammatory response to foreign body (n = 1); Wegener's granulomatosis (n = 1); and trauma (n = 1). Location of the obstruction was at the subglottic space in 70%; upper third of the trachea in 10%; half third of the trachea in 10%; left main bronchi in 5%; and right main bronchi in 5%. CAP was used for a total of 38 sessions (range 1-7 sessions/patient). Also, laryngeal and/or tracheal dilatation was performed in eleven cases. Significant improvement was observed in eleven cases, while eight cases experimented minimal improvement and one case did not improve at all. Mean patient follow-up was 15.7 ± 6.4 months (range 7-30). There were no complications related to the procedures.

Conclusions:

In selected cases, BCAO could be effectively and safely treated by means of CAP. Combined treatment with dilators could be of helpful in recovering the occluded airway.