Expandable metallic stents applied to benign bronchostenosis.

Tandem Gianturco expandable metallic stents (GEMSs) with barbs were inserted to dilate the left main bronchus of a 38-year-old man who had developed left bronchostenosis due to bronchial tuberculosis. Through the use of these GEMSs, ventilation in the left lung remarkably improved; however, the central airway resistance was found to be greater than that exhibited by the normal side and the mucociliary transport function was reduced.