title: [Diagnosis and treatment of a benign tracheal tumour: a schwannoma].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Schwannomas are extremely rare benign tumours in the tracheo-bronchial tree.
  
  
  METHODS
  A rigid bronchoscopy was performed in a fifty-six-year-old woman with clinical features of atypical asthma. It permitted total resection and histological examination of a tracheal tumour. It was identified as a benign schwannoma.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Using this case report as an illustration, and an analysis of the world literature, the clinical, investigative, histological and therapeutic aspects of tracheo-bronchial schwannoma are discussed. Dyspnoea seems to be the most frequent initial symptom. Investigations, including flexible bronchoscopy, failed to reach a diagnosis. In the past, thoracic surgery was the gold standard treatment, but nowadays, rigid bronchoscopy would be the first choice technique for endo-tracheal or endo-bronchial tumours allowing both histological analysis and complete resection.
authors.affiliation: Service de pneumologie et d'oncologie thoracique, Hôpital Nord, CHU de Saint-Etienne, 42055 Saint-Etienne Cedex 2, France.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Girard
authors.forename: M-L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Chambonnière
authors.forename: J-M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Vergnon
mesh_terms: D001999:Bronchoscopy; D003371:Cough / Q000209:etiology; D004417:Dyspnea / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017075:Laser Coagulation; D008875:Middle Aged; D009442:Neurilemmoma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery*; D012135:Respiratory Sounds / Q000209:etiology; D014134:Tracheal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery*