Review of the clinical outcomes of therapeutic bronchoscopy for central airway obstruction

Central airway obstruction (CAO) is a debilitating condition with a significant impact on patient’s quality of life and risk of hospitalization from respiratory failure. The causes of CAO can be both benign and malignant. Benign CAO may be idiopathic or secondary to other disease processes (infection, intubation, tracheostomy, etc.). Malignant central airway obstruction (MCAO) may occur in patients with primary lung malignancy as well as metastasis from other malignancies including renal cell, colon, and breast. In a cohort review, MCAO was found in up to 13% of patients with newly diagnosed lung cancer. The obstruction may occur either due to endoluminal disease, extrinsic compression, or a combination of both. Several bronchoscopic tools are available to manage such obstruction. Practice patterns and tools used to relieve CAO vary between institutions and may depend on physician preference, patient characteristics, emergency nature of the procedure, and nature of the obstruction. To quantify the effect and added value of such interventions, it is crucial to understand the clinical impact these interventions have on patients. The clinical impact of therapeutic bronchoscopy (TB) must then be weighed against the potential complications to justify its value. Early studies of TB for CAO included patients with both malignant and benign etiologies. The study population’s heterogeneity makes it difficult to determine how TB affects clinical outcomes, as clinical outcomes are disease specific. The impact of TB for a MCAO may be different when compared to a benign CAO. Similarly, the clinical outcome of treating an idiopathic benign CAO may be different than that of a post tracheostomy airway obstruction. In this article, we will focus on the clinical outcomes of TB in MCAO. TB has been shown to have a clear impact on weaning from mechanical ventilation, dyspnea, health-related quality of life, survival and quality adjusted survival. The potential impact of TB on these outcomes should be weighed against the potential risk of complications. Understanding the factors associated with improved clinical outcomes will help physicians decide when and if TB is helpful. Future studies should focus on creating a decision analysis tool to further define decision thresholds.