Please call 734-936-8051 to schedule an appointment with one of our Otolaryngology providers. 

The symptoms of auto-immune and inflammatory conditions of the airways vary depending on the disease and areas affected.  Common symptoms include:

• Difficulties with breathing, such as shortness of breath, wheezing, or stridor (high-pitched breathing on inspiration)
• Chronic cough
• Hoarseness
• Recurring respiratory tract infections
• Shortness of breath
• Bleeding from the airway (hemoptysis)
• Sinusitis
• Difficulty Swallowing

At the Complex Airway Disorders Program, your evaluation is customized to your condition.  Your evaluation may include:

• A complete history of your breathing problem
• A physical examination of your head, neck, and chest
• Evaluation your breathing ability through pulmonary function testing (PFTs)
• Examination of your throat, voice box, and airway through endoscopy in the clinic or operating room
• Imaging of your airways via X-rays or computed tomography (CT) scans.  This may include Dynamic 3D Chest CT-scans, a non-invasive procedure performed with the patient inhaling and exhaling to examine how the airways change with breathing.

Non-Surgical Treatment

In many cases, inflammatory and autoimmune airway disease improves with treatment of the underlying condition. Frequently, consultation with a rheumatologist, immunologist, pulmonologist, or hematologist is necessary to discuss treatment options and prevent recurrence of the airway condition. 

Surgical Treatment

For patients who do not benefit from systemic treatment, we offer surgical procedures to improve symptoms with narrowing or collapse of their airways due to the autoimmune condition.  These include:

• Endoscopic Dilation —  While examining your airway through the mouth while you are asleep, a balloon or dilator is used to widen (stretch) the airway.  Often times, steroid is injected into the area or a medication called mitomycin is applied to prevent recurrence of scar.
• Laser Treatment – While examining your airway through the mouth while you are asleep, a laser is use to vaporize and cut the scar in your airway to increase the space to breathe through.
• Endoscopic Resection —  Also called the Maddern procedure, in this procedure, your surgeon uses a laser to strip all the scar from the narrow area.  The airway is then relined with a graft of different tissue.  A temporary silicone stent is applied while the graft integrates with your airway.
• Tracheobronchial Stenting – While examining your airway through the mouth while you are asleep, the area of narrowing is propped open with an expandable stent made of metal or silicone inserted into the airway through a bronchoscope.
• Open Airway Reconstruction – Via an incision through the neck, the area of scarring or narrowing is cut away (resected), and the two remaining ends of the airway sewn back together resulting in an unobstructed airway.  This is called either a tracheal resection or cricotracheal resection, depending on the areas that are removed. Laryngotracheal reconstruction is when a cartilage graft is also used to expand your airway.
• Tracheostomy or T-tube – An incision is made in to the airway, and a tube is inserted into the airway to either bypass or expand the area of narrowing and allow normal breathing