Comparative Treatment Outcomes for Idiopathic Subglottic Stenosis: 5-Year Update

The North American Airway Collaborative (NoAAC) previously published a 3-year multi-institutional prospective cohort study showing variation in treatment effectiveness between 3 primary surgical techniques for idiopathic subglottic stenosis (iSGS). In this report, we update these findings to include 5 years of data evaluating treatment effectiveness. Patients in the NoAAC cohort were re-enrolled for 2 additional years and followed using the prespecified published protocol. Consistent with prior data, prospective observation of 487 iSGS patients for 5 years showed treatment effectiveness differed by modality. Cricotracheal resection maintained the lowest rate of recurrent operation (5%), followed by endoscopic resection with adjuvant medical therapy (30%) and endoscopic dilation (50%). These data support the initial observations and continue to provide value to providers and patients navigating longitudinal decision-making.Level of evidence: 2-prospective cohort study.

Automated summary

The North American Airway Collaborative (NoAAC) conducted a 5-year prospective cohort study on treatment effectiveness of three surgical techniques for idiopathic subglottic stenosis (iSGS). The study included 487 iSGS patients and found variations in treatment effectiveness between the different modalities. Cricotracheal resection had the lowest rate of recurrent operation (5%), followed by endoscopic resection with adjuvant medical therapy (30%) and endoscopic dilation (50%). These findings provide valuable information for healthcare providers and patients in making treatment decisions.