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CASE REPORT
An airway traffic jam: a plastic traffic cone masquerading as bronchial carcinoma
  1. Nicholas Denny1,
  2. Usman Maqsood2,
  3. Stephen Fowler1,
  4. Mohammed Munavvar2
  1. 1Department of Respiratory Medicine, Wythenshawe Hospital, Manchester, UK
  2. 2Department of Respiratory Medicine, Royal Preston Hospital, Preston, UK
  1. Correspondence to Dr Nicholas Denny, scat3660{at}doctors.org.uk

Summary

Tracheobronchial foreign body (TFB) aspiration is a common occurrence in children compared with adults. Long-standing cases of TFB aspiration during childhood presenting in an adult have rarely been reported. We report the unique case of an endobronchial Playmobil traffic cone that went undetected for 40 years and presented as a suspected bronchogenic carcinoma. This was subsequently removed successfully with flexible bronchoscopy. To our knowledge this is the first case of a TFB that was overlooked this length of time.

  • respiratory medicine
  • respiratory cancer
  • lung cancer (oncology)

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Footnotes

  • Contributors ND, SF and MM planned and drafted the article, UM obtained consent and ND, UM, SF and MM were involved in the critical revision and approval of the final version to be published.

  • Competing interests None declared.

  • Patient consent Obtained.

  • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.