Managing complex benign airway disease is a major challenge in interventional pulmonology. With the introduction of additive manufacturing in the medical field, patient-specific (PS) implants are an innovate prospect for airway management.

A review of the utility and state of the art of patient-specific airway stents featuring our VisionAir 3D Stent Architect technology.

Severe narrowing of an area near her lungs left Elizabeth King gasping after taking a few steps or standing in the kitchen. This patient story details the transformative results of receiving a 3D Stent for treatment of central airway obstruction.

Mayo Clinic is one of the first centers to offer patients our 3D Stents with complex central airway obstruction. Read about the positive outcomes they are getting!

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared patient-specific airway stents developed by Cleveland Clinic physician Tom Gildea, M.D.

Dr. Gildea, who has been working on the concept since 2014, is eager to see the positive effects the devices can have on the 30,000 or so patients requiring airway stents each year in the United States. “Shortness of breath is quite insidious, and over time it can get progressively worse. As Keith showed, a patient can go from feeling totally incapacitated to feeling completely normal with the right stent.”

We describe our initial clinical outcomes with the placement of thirteen patient-specific (PS) silicone stents in four patients with underlying complex airway diseases who had multiple complications associated with commercially-available airway stents.

A report of the 1-year outcomes associated with the VisionAir 3D Stent in two patients at Cleveland Clinic.

Patient-specific, 3D-engineered silicone stents were manufactured and successfully implanted in 2 patients with tracheobronchomalacia.

When breathing is hard, life is hard. Every single move becomes difficult. Patients with serious breathing disorders sometimes need stents to keep their airways open. Until now, these devices were made with a one-size-fits-all approach. But custom stents are helping some people breathe easier.