Background: Complications cannot always be avoided and their treatment is an integral component of a high quality medical treatment. Complications of the central airways are rare but necessitate supportive treatment by an experienced thoracic surgeon.
Objective: The reader should become acquainted with measures to prevent complications, to recognize and treat complications early and should understand the necessity for an interdisciplinary approach.
Material and methods: A selective literature research was supplemented by personal experiences and complemented with prospectively collected photographs.
Results: There are risk constellations for the appearance of all the mentioned complications which the surgeon needs to know in order to be able to take measures for early detection of complications. Iatrogenic tracheal injuries and bronchial stump fistulae are rare (< 5 %) whereas recurrent laryngeal nerve palsy after left-sided pneumonectomy occurs in up to 30 % of cases.
Discussion: After the occurrence of complications at the latest, it is very important to include experienced thoracic surgeons and other specialists when necessary to protect the patient from further damage.