An approach to tracheostomy in a patient with an expandable metallic tracheal stent.

With increasing use of expandable metallic stents to manage patients with a variety of endobronchial pathologies, some will have a subsequent need for tracheostomy insertion. We describe a successful technique to insert a tracheostomy using rigid and fibre-optic bronchoscopy in a patient who had an 8 cm expandable metallic tracheal stent deployed previously on account of tracheomalacia.