A 53-year-old woman suffering from tracheal (wind pipe) tumour got a new lease of life after doctors at a city hospital performed tracheostomy (incision in windpipe) on her to deploy a Y-shaped stent in the trachea.
The surgery on Reema Saigal was quick, as her oxygen supply was cut off temporarily during the procedure, and successful with the stent placed well and working perfectly.
"The patient was admitted with severe respiratory distress in the last week of June. Previous investigations revealed a cancerous growth in her trachea. She was to undergo a surgical resection of the diseased portion.
"However, on operation table it was found out that her cancer had spread deep into the surrounding tissues and oesophagus (food pipe) leaving no option for the surgeons to operate. Possibility of removing the cancerous part of trachea was hence ruled out," said Dr Sandeep Nayar, Senior Consultant and HOD, Respiratory Medicine, Allergy and Sleep Disorders at BLK Super Speciality Hospital.
Doctors then decided to place a 'Y-Shaped' stent as the cancer had spread from lower end of trachea till carina.
"It was not advisable to leave the trachea without support as patient might get asphyxiated due to tracheal obstruction. We decided to deploy the stent by giving a nick on the upper part of trachea," Dr Sandeep Mehta, Director, BLK Cancer centre, said, adding that it was needed to save the patient.
As compared to straight stents, the operative duration was longer when Y-shaped stent was inserted.
After placing the stent, tracheostomy was closed and the patient was kept on ventilator overnight and extubated the next day.
