Endobronchial leiomyoma: report of a case treated by bronchoplasty and a review of the literature

Epstein-Barr Virus-Associated Pulmonary Leiomyoma in a Patient With Untreated Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection

We report an Epstein-Barr virus-associated smooth muscle tumor in an adult male with AIDS. The patient had multiple lung nodules seen on computed tomography of the chest and an endobronchial lung tumor identified on bronchoscopy. Initiation of antiretroviral therapy slowed the progression of the tumors.

A hint for abnormal thoracic shadow: look behind the heart

Can you diagnose this woman with a history of uterine fibroids in the previous year and a recent finding of intrathoracic mass on chest radiography? https://bit.ly/44mQ9Jj.

Rare case of bronchoscopic debulking of endobronchial leiomyoma

An endobronchial leiomyoma is a rare benign tumour of lung. It occurs from the smooth muscle of tracheobronchial tree or within lung parenchyma. It presents less than 2% of all benign lung tumours. We present a case report of a 39-year-old male, ex-smoker, with no family history of malignancies, presenting with cough and dyspnoea for 7 months with no symptomatic relief. CAT scan thorax showed well-defined oblong soft tissue mass lesion 24.2 mm × 15.4 mm in right major bronchus compromising central lumen. Flexible bronchoscopy revealed an endobronchial mass at right major bronchus. Patient underwent rigid bronchoscopy with endobronchial mass excision with an electrocautery snare and cryoprobe in the same seating. Complete debulking of tumour was achieved and histopathology report was suggestive of leiomyoma. Prompt investigations and intervention can give favourable outcomes in cases of endobronchial tumours.

Young man with dyspnoea for 6 months; presenting with subacute tracheal obstruction due to leiomyoma

Tracheal leiomyoma is a rare benign tumour with less than a 100 cases reported in the literature. We report a case of leiomyoma initially presenting and being treated as asthma until it lead to life-threatening tracheal obstruction, requiring immediate surgical intervention.

Primary pulmonary leiomyoma

Leiomyoma is a smooth muscle neoplasm that commonly occurs in the genitourinary system and the gastrointestinal tract of the body. Primary pulmonary leiomyoma is rarely reported in literature.

We report a rare case of primary pulmonary leiomyoma of a 55‐year‐old male patient presenting with symptoms of cough for six months.

Leiomyoma of the Trachea: a case report

We present a surgical case of a rare primary tracheal tumor. In a 44-year-old asymptomatic man, computed tomography (CT), performed as part of health check-up, revealed a tumor measuring 1.5 cm in diameter in the mediastinal trachea. Biopsy failed to yield a definitive diagnosis, but the tumor tended to grow rapidly; therefore, surgery was performed. Five tracheal rings were resected through median sternotomy, followed by interrupted suture with 3-0 absorbable thread. The postoperative course has been favorable with no evidence of recurrence. The pathological diagnosis was leiomyoma. We report this case with literature review.

Bronchial leiomyoma, a case report and review of literature

A 44 year old male former smoker from Ecuador presented with productive cough for 3 weeks, positive tuberculin skin test, 40 lbs weight loss and right lower lobe collapse. He denied wheezing or hemoptysis. He was treated with antibiotics and ruled out for tuberculosis with negative sputum smear. Bronchoscopy showed an endobronchial lesion at the distal end of bronchus intermedius as cause of the collapse. Endobronchial biopsy of the lesion revealed an endobronchial leiomyoma, a rare cause of endobronchial tumor. The patient underwent bilobectomy as definite therapy for the leiomyoma due to its large size and possible extra-luminal extension, which made it not amenable to bronchoscopic resection or bronchoplasty. Differential diagnoses of endobronchial lesions are discussed along with clinical, radiographic, pathologic characteristics and various treatment modalities for endobronchial leiomyomas.

Endobronchial leiomyoma in an immunocompetent four-year-old female child

Pulmonary leiomyoma are uncommonly encountered benign mesenchymal neoplasms in children, usually found in immunosuppressed individuals in association with human immunodeficiency virus or Ebstein-Barr virus infection. We describe an interesting case of a 4-year-old immunocompetent girl who presented with pleural effusion and lung collapse secondary to endobronchial leiomyoma. She underwent a left thoracotomy and a left pneumonectomy for excision of the bronchial mass.

Successful surgical resection of leiomyoma obstructing the trachea

We report a case of 51-year-old woman with a severely airway-obstructing leiomyoma who underwent successful tracheal resection. A preoperative tumor biopsy was avoided not to cause any risk of suffocation. At surgery, an endotracheal intubation distal to the tumor was achieved with a bronchoscopic guidance. A segmental resection of the trachea with a primary end-to-end anastomosis was performed via a half-splitting median sternotomy. Negative surgical margins for tumor were confirmed intraoperatively. Final pathological diagnosis was a primary tracheal leiomyoma. Definitive surgical resection is a treatment of choice for such airway-obstructing, wide-based leiomyoma. Although a bronchoscopic removal of the tumor is an alternative choice, the risks of suffocation, positive surgical margins, and perforation of the trachea need to be carefully discussed if it is considered.

Primary leiomyoma of the trachea, bronchus, and pulmonary parenchyma--a single-institutional experience

OBJECTIVE

Primary leiomyoma of the respiratory tract is a rare disease. Based on our experience, we investigated its clinical characteristics and outcomes of treatment.

METHODS

Between 1997 and 2008, 16 patients in our institution (nine male, seven female) were found to have primary leiomyoma of the respiratory tract. The median patient age was 46.5 years (range 17-66 years). The tumor was located in the trachea in four patients, in the carina and main bronchus in four, in the bronchus intermedius in four, in the lobar or segmental bronchus in two, and in the lung parenchyma in two.

RESULTS

Tumor removal through bronchoscopic intervention using Nd-YAG (neodymium-yttrium-aluminum-garnet) laser cauterization was attempted in 11 patients; it failed in two with wide-based tumors. Surgical resection was performed in seven patients. Operative procedures included tracheal resection and end-to-end anastomosis (n=3), lobectomy (n=3), and bilobectomy (n=1). There were no in-hospital mortalities. During a median follow-up duration of 43.2 months, one patient who underwent bronchoscopic removal had recurrence, for which segmental resection of the trachea and main bronchus with carinal reconstruction was performed.

CONCLUSIONS

Bronchoscopic intervention can offer successful control of primary leiomyoma of the main airway stem; however, in cases of a wide-based tumor, bronchoscopic intervention can result in incomplete resection or recurrence. Surgical complete resection can yield satisfactory outcomes in patients with primary leiomyoma occurring in the respiratory tract.

Use of microdebrider bronchoscopy for the treatment of endobronchial leiomyoma

AIMS

Pulmonary leiomyomas are rare benign tumors that may cause symptoms when they spread endobronchially. Traditionally they were managed surgically or through interventional bronchoscopy with the aid of thermal modalities to assist in debulking of tumor. We report the novel use of microdebrider bronchoscopy to debulk an endobronchial leiomyoma in a symptomatic patient.

METHOD/RESULTS

The microdebrider successfully débrided the endobronchial leiomyoma.

CONCLUSION

This modality can be successfully employed when oxygenation is an issue, preventing use of thermal modalities. In addition, use of microdebrider not only reduced procedure time but also decreased the risk of airway fire and damage to adjacent normal tissue in our patient.

Video-assisted lobectomy for endobronchial leiomyoma

Endobronchial leiomyomas are rare tumours arising from the smooth muscle on the bronchial tree. We describe a patient with a six-month history of chest infections, who was treated surgically with a video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) lobectomy. The pathology revealed an endobronchial leiomyoma that coexisted with postobstructive pulmonary non-necrotising granulomas.

Clinical characteristics and efficacy of bronchoscopic intervention for tracheobronchial leiomyoma

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE

This study reports the clinical characteristics, efficacy and safety of bronchoscopic treatment of patients with tracheobronchial leiomyoma.

METHODS

A retrospective study of 10 patients with tracheobronchial leiomyoma who underwent bronchoscopic intervention between 2000 and 2007 at a single centre, documenting the clinical characteristics, treatment method and outcomes.

RESULTS

Seven men and three women were studied. The median age at diagnosis was 47 years (range 17-66). The most frequent symptoms were cough (n = 5) and dyspnoea (n = 4). The lesions were in the trachea in two patients, the right bronchi in six, and the left bronchi in two. On chest CT, the most frequent findings were a tracheobronchial mass without parenchymal lesion (n = 7). The tumours were removed by neodymium-yttrium-aluminum-garnet laser treatment by rigid bronchoscopy under general anaesthesia (n = 9) and with flexible bronchoscopy under local (n = 1) anaesthesia. Two patients eventually underwent surgical resection because of late tumour recurrence at 16 months, after the bronchoscopic intervention, in one patient, and incomplete removal by bronchoscopic intervention in another patient. In eight of ten patients who were successfully treated by the bronchoscopic intervention, the clinical outcome was good during the median follow-up period of 24.5 months. There were no procedure-related mortalities or late complications.

CONCLUSIONS

Patients with a tracheobronchial leiomyoma usually present with non-specific respiratory symptoms and an endobronchial mass without parenchymal lesions. Bronchoscopic intervention is a safe and effective technique for the treatment of patients with a tracheobronchial leiomyoma.

Calcified endobronchial leiomyoma

We report a case of calcified endobronchial leiomyoma in the left main bronchus. Leiomyoma of the airways is a rare benign tumour, usually described as a solitary lesion and located in the membranous portion of the lower third of the trachea and rarely in the bronchi. Chest CT showed a well-defined, calcified, polypoid endobronchial mass with a broad stalk in the left main bronchus.

The role of endoscopic surgery for completely obstructive endobronchial benign tumor

BACKGROUND

The improving techniques of therapeutic bronchoscopy have been replacing conventional surgery for resecting endobronchial benign tumor. However, there could be some limitation for performing bronchoscopic intervention for the patients with complete bronchial obstruction. To evaluate the role of endoscopic surgery for completely obstructive endobronchial benign tumor, we retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 7 patients who underwent bronchoscopic resection due to completely obstructive benign tumor.

METHODS

Rigid bronchoscopy was performed under general anesthesia. After the stalk of tumor was identified with using a 1 mm biopsy forceps as a probe, a Nd-YAG laser was used to coagulate the stalk of tumor. The tumor was then removed.

RESULTS

Bronchoscopic resection was successful in 6 out of 7 patients. The histological diagnoses were 3 leiomyomas, 3 harmatomas and 1 lipoma. There was no mortality in our study. Pneumomediastinum developed in 1 patient, and this patient was treated with 3 days of oxygen therapy. In 5 out of the 6 successful patients, there was no recurrence for a median of 35 months. In 1 patient, leiomyoma recurred after 17 months, and this was treated by pneumonectomy.

CONCLUSIONS

Endoscopic surgery could be applied to the patients with completely obstructive endobronchial benign tumor.

Benign bronchopulmonary tumors: radiologic and pathologic findings

According to the new World Health Organization classification, benign bronchopulmonary tumors can be classified into epithelial tumors, mesenchymal tumors, and tumor-like conditions. Imaging findings of benign tumors of large airways are nonspecific and overlapping. Some benign pulmonary tumors show characteristic imaging findings. On CT, bronchioloalveolar adenomas appear as a small nodular area of ground-glass opacity. Metastasizing leiomyomas are seen as well-circumscribed solitary or multiple pulmonary nodules ranging in size from a few millimeters to several centimeters. Pulmonary hamartomas or lipomas are recognized specifically when fat deposits of CT number in the -80 HU to -120 HU range are identified. Enhancement of tumor with administration of contrast medium with or without foci of calcification may be seen in sclerosing hemangiomas and hemangiopericytomas. Awareness of the various imaging findings of these tumors can help narrow down the differential diagnosis on daily practice among the long lists of bronchopulmonary tumors.