Malignant tracheobronchial obstructive lesions: treatment with Gianturco expandable metallic stents.

Gianturco expandable metallic stents were placed in 14 patients with 19 malignant lesions who had tracheobronchial stenosis and/or obstruction together with dyspnea. In all 14 patients, stenotic and/or obstructive changes disappeared immediately after the procedure, and the dyspnea improved. Lumina at the sites of tracheal lesions expanded from a mean of 3.9 mm in diameter before stent placement to a mean of 13.9 mm after stent placement. Lumina at the sites of bronchial lesions expanded from a mean of 2.1 mm to a mean of 10.3 mm. Lumina at the sites of lesions caused by extrinsic compression expanded to a mean of 89.7% of normal, while lumina at the sites of lesions caused by intraluminal tumor growth expanded to a mean of 63.2% of normal. There was improvement of at least one grade of the Hugh-Jones classification in 12 patients. Ten of the patients died; in two of these patients, restenosis developed.