Pneumonia in a Heart-Lung Recipient after Airway Stent Placement

Pneumonia in a Heart Lung after Airway Stent Placement

Airway stenosis still remains a major complication after lung or heart-lung transplantation, usually as a result of anastomotic ischemia. Once it develops, it is associated with a high morbidity and mortality. The current management of ischemic stenosis includes endoscopic debridement, manual fulguration or laser vaporization, and balloon dilatation of the stenosis. Among the various methods available, self-expandable metallic stents appear to have fewer long-term complications when used for the management of airway complications following lung transplantation [[1]]. Yet in the case reported here, placement of the self-expandable metallic stent at the anastomosis site was unsatisfactory with protrusion of the distal end which obstructed the entrances to the left and partly to the right main bronchi, and it was this that had catastrophic consequences 11 months later.

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