Tracheal resection with end-to-end anastomosis for isolated postintubation cervical trachea stenosis: long-term results.

A 20-year experience with end-to-end tracheal resection and anastomosis for isolated postintubation stenosis of the cervical trachea, in a consecutive series of 32 adult patients, has been reviewed. Surgical death was never encountered. The overall incidences for superficial wound infection, pneumonia, and inferior left laryngeal nerve paralysis were 6.2%, 3.1%, and 3.1%, respectively. One-, 3- and 5-year actuarial anastomosis success rates were 96.7%, 93.3%, and 93.3%, respectively. Successful revision tracheal end-to-end anastomosis was performed once, resulting in an overall 96.9% success rate in our series. None of the following variables-sex, age, cause for intubation, intubation type (laryngotracheal and/or tracheotomy) and duration, delay from initial injury, presence of an open stoma, number of tracheal rings resected, and type of sutures used-were statistically related to the anastomosis success rate or the incidence of complications.