[A case of inflammatory endotracheal polyps in an asthmatic subject].
A 60-year-old asthmatic woman was admitted to our department because of bloody sputum and pneumonia. She had been treated with inhaled becromethasone dipropionate (800 micrograms/day) on an outpatient basis for 3 years. Fiberoptic bronchoscopy revealed polypoid lesions in the trachea, most of which were removed with forceps during the procedure. Numerous lymphocytes were observed in the biopsy specimen. Because immunohistochemical staining denied a monoclonal origin for the accumulated lymphocytes, the lesion was diagnosed as an inflammatory polyp. The patient was treated successfully with antibiotics for her pneumonia, and on a follow-up bronchoscopy 6 months later, only a small remnant of the lesion was noted. This is the fourth report about inflammatory polyps in asthmatics. In the previous 3 cases, however, marked eosinophil infiltration was consistently reported. The lymphocyte predominance in the present case therefore suggests a distinct etiology rather than asthmatic airway inflammation.
Kibe
A
A
Research Institute for Disease of the Chest, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8582, Japan.
Inoue
H
H
Koto
H
H
Ise
S
S
Misumi
Y
Y
Matsuba
T
T
Fukuyama
S
S
Nakashima
Y
Y
Hara
N
N
D001249:Asthma / Q000150:complications*; D001999:Bronchoscopy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation / Q000473:pathology; D008875:Middle Aged; D011127:Polyps / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology; D014134:Tracheal Neoplasms / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology