Our 12 year experience with Montgomery T-tube in the management of acute blunt laryngotracheal trauma patients

INTRODUCTION: The Montgomery T-tube is a device used as a combined tracheal stent and tracheostomy tube to prevent post-operative tracheal stenosis. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this retrospective study is to evaluate the outcome following Montgomery T-tube stenting performed in for neck and airway injury in patients with acute blunt laryngotracheal trauma over a period of 12 years. METHODS: Between 2005 and 2017, 19 patients with acute blunt laryngotracheal trauma underwent Montgomery T-tube stenting. All 19 laryngotracheal trauma patients had undergone a preoperative tracheostomy in the emergency department by an ENT surgeon. Montgomery T-tube stenting was done later through an external approach. The follow up period ranged from 2 to 10 years. The Montgomery T-tube was removed after a period ranging from 6 months to 1½ year. RESULTS: The majority of patients in the study were in the age group of 21–30 years. A preoperative tracheostomy was done in all 19 patients. All patients except 3 underwent successful decannulation, and experienced long-term satisfactory result. CONCLUSION: Management of acute blunt laryngotracheal trauma is a challenging problem that demands a multidisciplinary approach. The ideal treatment option should be individualized according to the patient's condition and characteristics of injury. According to our study we suggest that cases of acute blunt laryngotracheal trauma patients should be managed following the protocol as mentioned in our study, and we strongly emphasize that Montgomery T-tube should be left for at least 1 complete year in the airway as it results in negligible chances of post-traumatic stenosis of airway later.