International Journal of Clinical Research

Objective To explore the clinical efficacy and safety of cryotherapy combined with balloon dilatation in the treatment of airway obstruction caused by bronchial tuberculosis, and to compare it with cryotherapy alone. Methods This study included 40 patients diagnosed with bronchial tuberculosis complicated by airway obstruction who were admitted to the Respiratory Medicine Department of Bishan District Peoples Hospital from January 2021 to December 2022. The patients were randomly divided into a control group (cryotherapy alone, n=20) and an observation group (cryotherapy combined with balloon dilatation, n=20) using a random number table. All patients received standard antituberculosis treatment and underwent corresponding interventional therapy under bronchoscopy. The main outcome measures included improvement in airway obstruction (assessed by bronchoscopy and airway CT), overall response rate (cure rate + effective rate), Medical Research Council (MRC) dyspnea scale score, and postoperative complications. Results The study results showed that the overall response rate in the observation group (95.0%) was significantly higher than that in the control group (70.0%) (P<0.05), with a significantly higher cure rate in the observation group (60.0%) compared to the control group (30.0%). After intervention, the MRC dyspnea scale score in the observation group (3.91±0.57) was higher than that in the control group (2.83±0.61), and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.001). Conclusion Cryotherapy combined with balloon dilatation is superior to cryotherapy alone in improving airway obstruction caused by bronchial tuberculosis, enhancing treatment efficiency, and alleviating dyspnea symptoms in patients. It is worthy of further promotion.

Bronchial tuberculosis; Airway obstruction; Cryotherapy; Balloon dilatation; Bronchoscopic interventional therapy