Better Outcomes May be Possible with 3D Printed Airway Stents

Patient-specific 3D-printed silicone airway stents may be better than commercially available stents in patients with underlying complex airway disease, according to data from a small study presentened by Carlos Aravena Leon, MD, Cleveland Clinic, at the CHEST Annual Meeting. The new study showed that the 3D printed stents were associated with fewer adverse events.

In this retrospective chart review, patients who received patient-specific airway stents at the researchers’ institution were included. A total of 13 stents were placed in 4 patients; 30.8% and 61.5% of clinicians reported the difficulty of placing 12 of the 13 stents as on par with or easier than commercially available stents, respectively. For the 9 stents that had to be removed, 22.2% and 77.8% of clinicians reported that removal was easier or the same, respectively, compared with commercially available stents

At 24 hours there were adverse events in 4 stent placements. At 30 days there were adverse events in 7 stent placements. Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Event Severity scores were <3—an improvement compared with prior treatment with commercially available stents.

Reference

Leon CA, et al. Emerging Techniques for Interventional Pulmonology. Presented at: CHEST Annual Meeting; October 19-23, 2019; New Orleans.