Imaging
Those who care for patients with pulmonary, critical care or sleep disorders rely heavily on chest radiology and pathology to determine diagnoses. The Southwest Journal of Pulmonary, Critical Care & Sleep publishes case-based articles with characteristic chest imaging and related pathology.
The editor of this section will oversee and coordinate the publication of a core of the most important chest imaging topics. In doing so, they encourage the submission of unsolicited manuscripts. It cannot be overemphasized that both radiologic and pathologic images must be of excellent quality. As a rule, 600 DPI is sufficient for radiographic and pathologic images. Taking pictures of plain chest radiographs and CT scans with a digital camera is strongly discouraged. The figures should be cited in the text and numbered consecutively. The stain used for pathology specimens and magnification should be mentioned in the figure legend. Those who care for patients with pulmonary, critical care or sleep disorders rely heavily on chest radiology and pathology to determine diagnoses. The Southwest Journal of Pulmonary, Critical Care & Sleep publishes case-based articles with characteristic chest imaging and related pathology. The editor of this section will oversee and coordinate the publication of a core of the most important chest imaging topics. In doing so, they encourage the submission of unsolicited manuscripts. It cannot be overemphasized that both radiologic and pathologic images must be of excellent quality. As a rule, 600 DPI is sufficient for radiographic and pathologic images. Taking pictures of plain chest radiographs and CT scans with a digital camera is strongly discouraged. The figures should be cited in the text and numbered consecutively. The stain used for pathology specimens and magnification should be mentioned in the figure legend.
Medical Image of the Week: Tracheobronchopathia Osteochondroplastica
Figure 1. View of trachea during bronchoscopy showing submucosal nodules.
Figure 2. H & E staining of cartilage biopsy.
A 52-year-old asymptomatic woman underwent a low dose computed tomography (CT) of chest due to long-standing history of smoking. CT chest revealed a 4 mm right lower lobe pulmonary nodule. Also noted were several nodules throughout the trachea and in the left main-stem bronchus. Bronchoscopy revealed multiple non-obstructing submucosal nodules along the tracheal rings with sparing of the posterior membranous portion of the trachea (Figure 1). Endotracheal biopsy showed benign cartilage and ciliated epithelium (Figure 2). The patient was diagnosed with tracheobronchopathia osteochondroplastica (TO). Clinical manifestations of TO are nonspecific and include cough, wheezing, hemoptysis, dyspnea, and recurrent lung infections (1). Therapy for TO includes alleviation of symptoms with bronchodilators, treatment of respiratory infections and tracheal dilation. Therapeutic modalities for tracheal dilation includes surgical resection, laser ablation and vaporization. CT chest was to be repeated at 12 months for follow-up of the pulmonary nodule. The patient was lost to follow-up.
Benjamin O. Lawson MD1, Kelechi Abarikwu2, and Aditya Gupta MD3
1Internal Medicine and 3Pulmonary/Critical Care Medicine
HonorHealth Scottsdale Thompson Peak Medical Center
Scottsdale, AZ USA
2University of Arizona Tucson
Tucson, AZ USA
Reference
- Simmons C, Vinh D, Donovan DT, Ongkasuwan J. Tracheobronchopathia osteochondroplastica. Laryngoscope. 2016 Sep;126(9):2006-9. [CrossRef] [PubMed]
Cite as: Lawson BO, Abarikwu K, Gupta A. Medical image of the week: Tracheobronchopathia osteochondroplastica. Southwest J Pulm Crit Care. 2018;17(2):45-6. doi: https://doi.org/10.13175/swjpcc094-18 PDF