Table 1. Baseline characteristics of patients.

Group	Patient	Sex/age (years)	Primary tumor	Tumor stage	Pathologic pattern	Location of fistula (airway side)	Size of fistula (mm)	Cause of fistula	Indication for esophageal stenting	Esophageal stent indwelling time (days)	Previous tumor-specific therapy
1	1	M/55	Esophageal cancer	T4N1M1	SCC	Carina and left main bronchus	10×10	Tumor invasion	Esophageal stenosis	85	Chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and esophageal stent
	2	M/64	Gastric cancer	–	–	Lower trachea and left main bronchus	15×20, 12×20	External compression	Esophageal fistula	95	Esophageal stent, partial gastrectomy, and chemotherapy
	3	M/72	Esophageal cancer	T4N2M1	SCC	Upper trachea and left main bronchus	12×30	Tumor invasion	Esophageal fistula	462	Esophageal stent, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, immunotherapy, targeted therapy, and jejunostomy
	4	M/63	Esophageal cancer	T3N1M0	SCC	Middle and lower trachea	18×30	Tumor invasion	Esophageal stenosis	78	Radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and esophageal stent
	5	M/49	Lung cancer	T4N3M1c	LCC	Lower trachea and carina	20×25	External compression	Esophagorespiratory fistula	62	Radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and esophageal stent
	6	M/47	Esophageal cancer	T4N1M1	SCC	Upper and lower trachea, left main bronchus	10×10, 16×20, 15×15	External compression	Esophagomediastinal fistula	181	Esophageal stent, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and immunotherapy
	7	M/54	Esophageal cancer	T4N1M1	SCC	Middle trachea and 5 cm above the carina	15×10	External compression	Esophageal stenosis	164	Esophageal stent, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and immunotherapy
2	8	M/58	Esophageal cancer	T4N2M1	SCC	Left main bronchus	20×15	External compression	Esophageal stenosis	183	Esophageal stent, radiotherapy, chemotherapy
	9	M/74	Lung cancer	T3N3M1c	SCC	Middle trachea and right intermediate bronchus	20×20, 5×5	External compression	Esophageal fistula	50	Chemotherapy, and esophageal stent
	10	M/47	Esophageal cancer	T4N1M1	SCC	Lower trachea	5×10	External compression	Esophageal fistula	67	Chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and esophageal stent

Group 1: patients treated with rigid bronchoscopy to remove the esophageal stent and implant Y silicone trachea stent; Group 2: patients treated with additional airway stenting without removing the esophageal stent. Tumor stage was assessed based on the 8th American Joint Committee on Cancer/Union for International Cancer Control (AJCC/UICC) system. The size of fistula is presented as length × width. M, male; SCC, squamous cell carcinoma; LCC, large cell carcinoma.