Coating of stents applied in tracheal stenosis with tracheobronchial epithelium

It is very suitable for airway obstruction due to problems such as narrowness of the airway, cartilage structure of the trachea, lack of its own vascular structure, feeding by diffusion, being very prone to histological degeneration, problems of tracheotomy and endotracheal cavitations of the applied stent, secretion stasis and formation of kuru. Stents applied in tracheal stenosis are mostly used for palliative relief of symptoms caused by airway obstruction. Stents have major disadvantages as well as the advantages of keeping the airways open. Since there is no mucociliary transport, secretions accumulate, cannot be excreted and mucus plugs are formed and mucus occlusion is encountered. Based on this deficiency, in our study, we covered the nitinol stent with bronchial epithelial cells taken from the patient, thereby preventing the existing barriers in the airway stent; We aimed to correct mucociliary clearance, prevent granulation tissue formation, prevent mucus clogging, and overcome many complications by controlling migration behavior. In the study, the bronchial epithelial tissue of the patient was cultured on a nitinol stent and in petri dishes as a control group. Cilial measurements were taken until the 20th day and at the end of the 20th day, the numbers of proliferating cells were counted and compared. At the same time, the cells cultured from the tissue on the nitinol stent were examined by the pathology laboratory for observational and cytopathological analysis, and the presence of epithelial cells and cilia. Cilia vibration frequencies were lower in the nitinol stent than in the control group. In addition, since the surface areas of the nitinol stents were smaller than the control group petri dishes, the number of cells per surface area was higher. When we look at these results, when the patient's own ciliated epithelial cells are cultured on the nitinol stent, mucociliary activity will be ensured, mucus secretions will be removed more easily, mucus occlusion in the stent, secretion accumulation and stent complications will be prevented. Keywords: Nitinol Stent, Primary Bronchial Epithelial Culture, Tracheal Stenosis