Novel use of metallic stent to control post-debulking bleeding in a patient with central airway obstruction

Bronchoscopy-related bleeding is often encountered and is usually self-limiting or controllable by conservative measures. However, major bleeds can be life threatening for the patient as well as challenging for the physician to manage. There are several methods to achieve adequate haemostasis should a significant airway bleed occur. In this context, we describe a patient who had a post-bronchoscopic debulking bleed which persisted despite use of all available measures, and we deployed a self-expanding metallic stent in an attempt to control it. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first instance of a metallic airway stent being used to control bronchoscopy associated bleeding, though reports of its usage in management of intractable haemoptysis exist in the literature.