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Case Reports: Rare disease
Severe tracheobronchopathia osteochondroplastica in an asymptomatic patient
  1. Giovanni Francesco Dall'Amico1,
  2. Dave Sharma1,
  3. Lulu Ritchie1 and
  4. Guri Sandhu2
  1. 1ENT Department, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, London, UK
  2. 2National Centre for Airway Reconstruction, Imperial College London, London, UK
  1. Correspondence to Dr Giovanni Francesco Dall'Amico; gfdallamico{at}hotmail.com

Abstract

Tracheobronchopathia osteochondroplastica (TO) is a rare condition affecting the lumen of the tracheobronchial tree. It is characterised by the presence of multiple osseous and cartilaginous nodules with posterior wall sparing. While it is a benign condition, it can cause narrowing of the tracheal lumen and subglottis to varying degrees. Approximately 400 cases have been reported worldwide, with an incidence of 0.3% in autopsies and between 1 in 125 and 1 in 5000 on bronchoscopy. As most patients are asymptomatic, this may contribute to underdiagnoses and relative low incidence. Severity of the condition is often unrelated to patient symptomatology. We present a patient with one of the most severe cases of TO seen at our institution. Despite being asymptomatic, significant tracheal and bronchial narrowing was found incidentally on laryngobronchoscopy.

  • Ear, nose and throat
  • Anaesthesia
  • Otolaryngology / ENT

http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bcr-2022-249976

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors The authors confirm contribution to the paper as follows: study conception and design—GFD, LR and DS; data collection—GFD; analysis and interpretation of results—GFD, LR and DS; draft manuscript preparation—GFD, LR, DS and GS. All authors reviewed the results and approved the final version of the manuscript.

    • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Case reports provide a valuable learning resource for the scientific community and can indicate areas of interest for future research. They should not be used in isolation to guide treatment choices or public health policy.

    • Competing interests None declared.

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