Anesthetic Management of Tracheal/Airway Stents

Tracheobronchial stenosis caused by benign and malignant pathologies is an important clinical problem. Surgical resection and reconstruction is considered the standard of care for definitive management. Endoscopic management plays an important role in non-surgical patients or those coming for palliation and includes forceps debulking, brachytherapy, cryotherapy, argon plasma coagulation, and tracheobronchial stents [1–3]. Recent technological advances have seen an increase in the popularity of tracheobronchial stents because these effectively manage both extraluminal and intraluminal lesions and rapidly alleviate acute distress due to airway obstruction [4].