Symptomatic tracheal stenosis in burns

Tracheal stenosis in burns is rare and usually results from prolonged intubation or tracheostomy. Inhalation injury itself has the potential risk of tracheal stenosis. We reviewed the records of 1878 burn patients during 1987 to 1995 and found seven with tracheal stenosis (0.37%) after an average of 4.4 years follow up. There were 4 males and 3 females with an average age of 27.3 years. The tracheal stenosis developed 1–22 months after burn (average 7 months). Five patients had their inhalation injury confirmed by bronchoscopic examination. The incidence of tracheal stenosis among inhalation injury patients was 5.49% (5/92). Six patients needed intubation in the initial stage either for respiratory distress or prophylaxis, with an average duration of 195.2 h. In addition to prolonged intubation, the presence of inhalation injury, repeated intubations and severe neck scar contractures are also contributors to tracheal stenosis in burns. We favor T-tube insertion as the first treatment choice; permanent tracheostomy was unsatisfactory in our study.