[Usefulness of expandable metallic stent to bronchial stenosis caused by an advanced lung cancer--a case report].

We used Expandable Metallic Stent (EMS) to bilateral bronchial stenosis due to invasion of lung cancer. A 75-year-old man was admitted to our hospital because of dyspnea and a fainting fit on October 19, 1991. He had been suffered from squamous cell carcinoma of right lung with bilateral bronchial invasion (T4N2M0), which has no indication for surgery. As the stenosis of bilateral main bronchus and the respiratory distress progressed, we applied EMS to the patient and inserted it into the left main bronchus on December 19, 1991. The procedure promptly relieved the respiratory distress and improved his quality of life. Bronchial endoscopy, performed on the 20th postoperative day, revealed the left bronchus patency. Thus, EMS applied to the bronchial stenosis caused by advanced lung cancer may be a choice of palliative therapy and can improve the quality of patient's life.