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Rodrigo Iñiguez-Cuadra, MD; José San Martín Prieto, MD; Magaly Iñiguez-Cuadra, MD; Sergio Zúñiga Erranz, MD; David Jofré Pavez, MD; Sergio González Bombardiere, MD; J. M. Guilemany Toste, MD; Rodrigo Iñiguez-Sasso, MD

Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2008;134(7):709-714.

Objective  To assess the capacity of high and low doses of the antimitotic drug mitomycin to prevent laryngeal stenosis in an animal model.

Methods  A prospective, randomized, double-blind, controlled study was carried out. End-to-end anastomosis was performed in 18 rabbits after tracheal annulus resection to produce inflammation. There were 3 treatment groups: topical saline (isotonic sodium chloride solution) and low-dose (0.2 mg/mL) and high-dose (0.5 mg/mL) topical mitomycin.

Results  A total of 107 procedures were performed: 54 surgical procedures, 35 fibrobronchoscopies, and 18 biopsies. The effect of mitomycin was dose related. In the high-dose mitomycin group, most rabbits progressed to stenosis with a percentage decrease in airway diameter that was significantly greater than in the other 2 groups (P <.001). The mean (SD) percentage of maximum stenosis in the high-dose group was 51% (22%). In the low-dose and saline groups, it was 18% (13%) and 16% (9%), respectively. No significant differences in tracheal stenosis between the low-dose mitomycin and saline groups were observed. Blinded histopathological analysis also showed no significant differences between the saline group and the low-dose mitomycin group. Compared with the other 2 groups, the high-dose mitomycin group had a significant increase in fibroproliferative tissue (P <.001).

Conclusion  These results suggest that topical mitomycin is not effective for avoiding tracheal stenosis and may provoke the opposite effect if the dose is not carefully selected.

Author Affiliations: Departments of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery (Drs R. Iñiguez-Cuadra, San Martín Prieto, M. Iñiguez-Cuadra, Jofré Pavez, and Iñiguez-Sasso), Pediatric Surgery (Dr Zúñiga Erranz), and Pathology (Dr González Bombardiere), School of Medicine, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago; and Otolaryngology Department, Hospital Clinic, Barcelona, Spain (Dr Guilemany Toste).