Case report

Tracheobronchopathia osteochondroplastica: A rare cause of chronic cough with haemoptysis

Hinrich Willms¹ , Volker Wiechmann² , Ulrich Sack³ and Adrian Gillissen¹

¹  Robert-Koch-Hospital, St. George Medical Center, Nikolai-Rumjanzew-Str. 100, D-4207 Leipzig, Germany

²  Institute of Pathology and Tumour Diagnostic, St. George Medical Center, Delitzscher-Str. 141, D-04129 Leipzig, Germany

³  Institute of Clinical Immunology and Transfusion Medicine, Medical Faculty of the University, Johannisallee 30, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany

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Cough 2008, 4:4doi:10.1186/1745-9974-4-4

Published:	30 June 2008

Abstract

A case of tracheobronchopathia osteochondroplastic (TPO) was diagnosed in a 69-year old male with prolonged cough. TPO is a rare condition of unknown cause and only sporadic cases have been reported. The condition is benign, characterized by submucosal nodules growing from the submucosal layer of the airways, protruding into the bronchial lumen. The bronchscopic view together with bronchial cartilage with abnormal distributed mineralization of the histologic examination of theses nodules leads to the correct diagnosis. Mild cases are treated symptomatically, whereas we tried an inhaled corticosteroid. Prominent protrusions in the trachea or the bronchi must be removed. In most cases the disease is stable over years but progressive forms have been reported. TPO may cause chronic refractory cough, which eventually is the only prominent symptom of this disease.