External stenting for bronchomalacia involving the bronchus intermedius.

Abstract

In recent years, external stenting has been used as a reliable method to relieve airway compression of the trachea and main bronchi in young children with acceptable age-proportional airway growth. However, to our knowledge, no literature supporting this approach for the distal airway has been published. A 1-year-old girl with absent pulmonary valve syndrome who had recurrent respiratory infections was diagnosed with bronchomalacia. She underwent an external stenting; the infections disappeared postoperatively. This is the first reported case of successful external stenting for malacia of the bronchus intermedius, which exhibited short- and mid-term safety and effectiveness.