Survival and Quality of Life Benefit after Endoscopic Management of Malignant Central Airway Obstruction

Background: Although interventional management of malignant central airway obstruction (mCAO) is well established, its impact on survival and quality of life (QoL) has not been extensively studied. Aim: We prospectively assessed survival, QoL and dyspnea (using validated EORTC questionnaire) in patients with mCAO 1 day before interventional bronchoscopy, 1 week after and every following month, in comparison to patients who declined this approach. Material/Patients/Methods: 36 patients underwent extensive interventional bronchoscopic management as indicated, whereas 12 declined. All patients received full chemotherapy and radiotherapy as indicated. Patients of the 2 groups were matched for age, comorbidities, type of malignancy and level of obstruction. Follow up time was 8.0 +/- 8.7 (range 1-38) months. Results: Mean survival for intervention and control group was 10 +/- 9 and 4 +/- 3 months respectively (p= 0.04). QoL improved significantly in intervention group patients up to the 6th month (p< 0.05) not deteriorating for those surviving up to 12 months. Dyspnea decreased in patients of the intervention group 1 month post procedure remaining reduced for survivors over the 12th month. Patients of the control group had worse QoL and dyspnea in all time points. Conclusions: Interventional management of patients with mCAO, may achieve prolonged survival with sustained significant improvement of QoL and dyspnea.