Rare Rigid Bronchoscopy procedure saves life of 40 year old Tobacco chewer

40 year old Mohammad Jani Pasha was a tobacco chewer and was brought in a wheelchair bound state to Yashoda Hospitals Malakpet's Out-Patient Department, with complaints of severe breathlessness. He had continuous wheezing even while sitting and was unable to move. On examination, his oxygen levels were found to be very low around 79% and upon doing a CT scan it was observed that almost 90-92% of his trachea (windpipe) was completely compressed from the outside and there was barely any space left, even for air to pass through.

Their primary surgeon, Dr. Visweswaran Balasubramaniam, Consultant Interventional Pulmonology and Sleep Medicine, explained to the patients attenders about the condition also called 'Tracheal stenosis' explaining the patient needing immediate surgery because it was causing impending complete airway obstruction along with respiratory arrest. The doctor wrote down and explained all the risks of the procedure 'Rigid bronchoscopy with tumor debulking with airways stenosis dilation' for the patient to understand the pros and cons of the procedure. Along with that a silicon Y airway stenting was also performed which is uncommon, and the surgery took them almost 6 hours where the rigid bronchoscope was used to remove the tumor portions, increasing the size of the trachea. An Endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS) was also done for the diagnosis and when a silicon Y airway stent was placed in the airway which had narrowed to almost 90%-95% suddenly opened up and the patient came out not needing Oxygen, and his blood oxygen levels reached upto 97 and now the patient is able to completely move and patient is also able to do his routine activities. So the patient was immediately removed from the ventilator following the surgery and the surgery was a 100% successful affair.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, surgeries involving the patient's airways are generally high risk and there is a likelihood that surgeons can get infected while performing the procedure. Jani Pasha was financially weak and burdened, and the hospital management at Yashoda Hospitals Malakpet decided to void their professional charges.