Whole-organ deceased donor tracheal allograft transplantation for the treatment of refractory tracheal stenosis: a case report

Tracheal stenosis involving >5 cm of trachea is debilitating for patients, impedes their quality of life and may even become life-threatening. Large, open defects often result in these patients because of multiple failed tracheal resections and endoscopic dilatations. Tracheal transplantation has been proposed as a curative solution, but revascularization of the trachea as an allograft has generally been considered prohibitively challenging due to a tenuous blood supply. We report a multidisciplinary effort resulting in the first vascularized, single-stage, deceased donor tracheal allograft transplantation in a woman with long-segment tracheal stenosis.