Prognostic factors after therapeutic bronchoscopy for tracheo- or broncho-oesophageal fistulas: results from the EpiGETIF registry.

Abstract

Introduction: Treatment of malignant tracheo- or broncho-oesophageal fistulas (TOF) using therapeutic bronchoscopy (TB) is not standardised and its outcomes are poorly described. This study aimed to analyse the characteristics of patients treated with TB for a TOF and to identify prognostic factors.

Methods: We analysed data from 96 patients undergoing TB for TOF entered in the EpiGETIF registry between January 2019 and December 2022.

Results: The mean age was 61.4 years. Median survival after TB was 2.40 months (95% CI 1.81-3.32). Histology was mainly represented by oesophageal (72%) and lung (23%) cancers and did not influence prognosis (p=0.15), whereas smoking did (2.17 versus 3.32 months for nonsmokers, p=0.04). Patients with poor performance status (Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group >2) had shorter survival (1.99 versus 3.02 months, p=0.04). 69% of patients had already received oncologic treatment, with no difference in survival (3.02 versus 2.21 months for treatment-naive patients, p=0.14). Neither the localisation (trachea 61.5%, left main bronchus 34.4%, other 4.1%) nor the size of the fistulas (23% <5 mm, 20% 5-10 mm, 54% >10 mm) impacted survival (p=0.91 and p=0.83, respectively). An airway stent (AS) was placed in 92.7% of patients, mainly self-expanding metallic stents (45%). Patients treated with both an oesophageal stent and AS had a better prognosis than patients treated with an AS alone (2.88 versus 1.77 months, respectively, p=0.02).

Conclusion: Survival of patients treated with TB for a TOF is very poor, and is impacted by smoking, performance status and the presence of an oesophageal stent.