Malignant Central Airway Obstruction: What's New?

Malignant central airway obstruction (MCAO) is a debilitating and life-limiting complication that occurs in an unfortunately large number of individuals with advanced intrathoracic cancer. Although the management of MCAO is multimodal and interdisciplinary, providing patients with prompt palliation falls increasingly on the shoulders of interventional pulmonologists. Indeed, one pragmatic, albeit somewhat uncharitable, reading of this article's title might suggest a wry smile and shug of the shoulders to imply that relatively little has changed in recent years. Herein, the present on MCAO and its endoscopic and nonendoscopic management-that which is old, that which is new, and that which is still on the horizon.