DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT OF ENDOBRONCHIAL AND TRACHEAL HAMARTOMATA

Endobronchial hamartomas are a tenth as frequent as the usually asympt omatic intrapulmonary hamartomas. We report on 7 patients. 2 men and 3 women had an endobronchial hamartoma. In one patient multiple endobro nchial hamartomas were found in the left upper lobe. In a 56-year-old patient with an 8-year history of shortness of breath, cough and sever al episodes of pneumonia and acute onset of respiratory failure, a tra cheal hamartoma was diagnosed. Frequently, endobronchial hamartomas ca n be resected without loss of lung tissue. Laser resection is often po ssible and may be the treatment of choice in elderly or inoperable pat ients. Because of lower risk, laser resection is frequently preferred to conventional operative resection in patients with tracheal hamartom as.