Rare tracheal procedure performed at Hyderabad hospital

HYDERABAD: A rare procedure of placing tracheal stent was performed at Yashoda Hospitals, Secunderabad recently. A team of Interventional Pulmonologists successfully implanted a nitinol TPFE based tracheal stent in the lungs of Ramanujulu (35) from Kadapa, suffering from a rare variety of cancer in the esophagus (food pipe).

The patient had a large cancerous growth in the esophagus compressing his air passage (trachea). When the patient consulted the doctors at the Interventional Pulmonology clinic at Yashoda, he was found to be in impending respiratory failure. "To save his life,the Interventional Pulmonology Team decided to place a self-expandable fully covered Niti S Tracheobronchial stent as a life-saving measure, until he gets his primary cancer treated by chemo-radiation," explained Dr Hari Kishan Gonuguntla, Interventional Pulmonologist who led the team.

The stent was placed in the trachea, which is the tube that carries air from nose and mouth into lungs. The procedure of placing the stent called a bronchoscopy, which uses a flexible camera inserted through the mouth. There would not be any surgical cuts.

The patient was given anesthesia through intravenous (IV) method. Once the patient lost consciousness, the doctors have inserted a bronchoscope (a tube-like instrument with a small camera) into the mouth. He The doctors used fluoroscopy, a type of X-Ray, to guide them during stent placement.

Dr Hari Kishan, Dr Y Gopi Krishna and Dr Gangadhar Reddy of the Interventional Pulmonology team were successful in implanting the stent and were able to relieve the symptoms of the patient. The patient is now being treated for primary cancer.