Background: Location of tumor within the tracheobronchial tree as well as its severity can affect the clinical outcome of patients who undergo airway stent placement.
Purpose: To evaluate radiologic and clinical outcome, including survival data, with special reference to proposed tumor involvement pattern, in patients with malignant bronchial strictures.
Material and Methods: A total of 35 patients who underwent stent placement for malignant bronchial strictures were enrolled over a 9-year period. Tumor involvement pattern was divided into three types based on computed tomography (CT) scans and selective bronchography. Type I was defined as tumor involving only the main stem bronchus; type II, tumor involving the bronchus intermedius and/or the lower lobar bronchus without involvement of the lower-lobe segmental bronchus; and type III, tumor involving the lower lobar bronchus with involvement of the lower-lobe segmental bronchus. Tumor stage, lung collapse/infiltration, radiologic improvement, clinical improvement, and survival were compared according to the tumor involvement pattern.
Results: Tumor involvement pattern was of type I, II, and III in 14, 13, and eight patients, respectively. When comparisons were made between types I/II and type III to evaluate the influence of lower-lobe segmental bronchial involvement, radiologic and clinical improvement was significantly lower in type III than in types I/II, while advanced stage, lung collapse/infiltration, and median overall survival were not significantly different between types I/II and type III.
Conclusion: In patients with malignant bronchial obstructions involving the lower-lobe segmental bronchus, clinicians must be aware of the possibility of less radiologic and clinical improvement following stent placement.
