Severe tracheobronchial stenosis in a patient with Crohn's disease

Tracheobronchial involvement in Crohn's disease is rare, usually associated with symptoms of tracheobronchitis, and typically responds well to steroid s. The authors report a case of a 29-yr old patient with Crohn's disease, w ho presented with dyspnoea, fever, and a productive cough. Computed tomogra phy of the chest revealed extensive nodular tracheobronchial stenosis, that was accompanied by severe mucosal inflammation at bronchoscopy, High-dose oral steroids diminished the mucosal inflammation, but had limited efficacy on the underlying tracheobronchial stenosis. It is speculated that this re lative ineffectiveness of steroids may be due to the persistence of the unt reated inflammatory process.