• benign tracheal stenosis
• endoscopic treatment
• multidisciplinary management
• tracheal surgery

Benign tracheal stenosis (BTS) can cause dyspnea, wheezing, and cough mimicking other obstructive lung diseases which often leads to a delay in the diagnosis. Risk factors and etiologies for tracheal strictures include autoimmune diseases, infection, gastro-esophageal reflux disease (GERD), radiation injury and iatrogenic factors such as post-intubation and post-tracheostomy. Once suspected, tracheal strictures are diagnosed by performing a thorough evaluation involving clinical exam, laboratory workup, pulmonary function test, chest imaging and bronchoscopy. Multidisciplinary evaluation of patients affected by BTS is paramount to address the patient to the most appropriate treatment and follow-up. The aim of this thesis is to describe the single-center experience of the Thoracic Surgery Unit and Thoracic Endoscopy Department of Pisa in the BTS management in the last 20 years and to compare our real-life daily practice to the literature evidence.