TY - CHAP M1 - Book, Section TI - Endoscopic Therapy for Endobronchial Lesions A1 - Tsukada, Hisashi A2 - Sugarbaker, David J. A2 - Bueno, Raphael A2 - Burt, Bryan M. A2 - Groth, Shawn S. A2 - Loor, Gabriel A2 - Wolf, Andrea S. A2 - Williams, Marcia A2 - Adams, Ann Y1 - 2020 N1 - T2 - Sugarbaker’s Adult Chest Surgery, 3e AB - Central airway obstruction (CAO) is caused by a variety of benign and malignant diseases. In general, a tracheal luminal diameter less than 8 mm will result in exertional dyspneic symptoms and audible stridor; symptoms occur at rest at less than 5 mm.1 Sticky secretions or a mucus plug at the stenotic area may result in the patient potentially becoming symptomatic, even with a tracheal diameter larger than 8 mm, which may become life-threatening. Restoration of airway patency is associated with improvement in symptoms, quality of life, and lung function.2 The treatment of malignant CAO is often a multimodality approach and is usually performed for palliation of symptoms in advanced lung cancer. In contrast, benign CAO disease pathogenesis per se does not influence the patient’s prognosis. Therefore, a more curative intervention option is required, including resection and reconstruction of the airway with an expert team. This chapter reviews currently available endotracheal and endobronchial techniques for the management of CAO in various settings, including balloon tracheobronchoplasty, mechanical airway dilation and core-out, electrocautery, argon plasma coagulation, laser therapy, photodynamic therapy, cryotherapy, brachytherapy, and airway stents. All CAO cases are challenging for the physician. Treatment options will be determined by expertise and available equipment in each institution. SN - PB - McGraw-Hill Education CY - New York, NY Y2 - 2024/11/09 UR - accesssurgery.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1170409018 ER -