What is the key question?

• Determination of factors to assist in the selection of patients with potential better outcomes from bronchoscopic interventions for their malignant airways obstruction.

What is the bottom line?

• This was a single-centre prospective study that included 100 patients with proximal malignant airway obstructions and underwent intervention.
• Majority of patients had squamous cell lung cancer, and a Stage IV diagnosis. Most also had cancer diagnosed at their initial central airway obstruction-related presentation.
• Median cohort survival was 8 months.
• Those with extrinsic or mixed extrinsic-intrinsic obstruction had shorter survival.
• Technical success of the bronchoscopic interventions were found to be related to airway patency distal to the obstruction and shorter obstruction length.

Why read on?

• The authors further detail other factors that were associated with better survival, to possibly assist with decision-making in intervening for malignant central airway obstruction.