Current readings: The role of stenting in tracheobronchial disease

Airway stents have gained acceptance for palliation or treatment of tracheobronchial pathologies or both since the second half of the 20th century. However, minimal advances have been made in the last 3 decades with regard to innovations in stent technology. Following a health alert issued by the Food and Drug Administration in 2005, silicone stents are now mainly used for benign pathologies whereas self-expanding metal stents are reserved for use with malignant airway obstruction. In this article, we review 5 articles published between 2010 and 2013 addressing the roles of stents in the management of malignant, benign, and post-lung-transplantation-related tracheobronchial narrowing. We identified what were the largest or most clinically relevant series in each case, but with the understanding that all are retrospective reviews with patient selection bias.