Primary tracheobronchial tumors in children.
Primary tracheobronchial tumors are rare lesions that can be benign or malignant, with different location along the airway tree. Symptoms may include wheezing, chronic pneumonia, asthma, chest pain, recurrent cough, atelectasis, haemoptysis, and weight loss. Due to the heterogeneity of symptoms, diagnosis can be difficult and the airway involvement can lead progressively to a bronchial or tracheal obstruction. Due to the rarity of primary tracheobronchial tumors in children, there are not any oncological guidelines on pre-operative work-up, treatment, and follow-up. Only few reports and multicentric studies are reported. In most cases, surgical resection seems to be the treatment of choice. Brachytherapy, endoscopic treatment, and chemotherapy are rarely described. In this article we present an overview on these rare tumors, including pathological aspects, clinical presentation, imaging assessment, and endoscopic or open surgical treatments. We discuss different surgical approaches, according with tumor location.
Department of Pediatric Surgery, Clinica Las Condes Medical Center, Hospital de Niños Calvo Mackenna, University of Chile, Camino el tucuquere 4080, Santiago, Chile. Electronic address: pvarelachile@yahoo.com.
Patricio
P
Varela
DINOGMI, University of Genoa, Genova, Italy; Airway Team and Pediatric Surgery Unit, Istituto Giannina Gaslini, Genova, Italy.
Luca
L
Pio
Airway Team and Pediatric Surgery Unit, Istituto Giannina Gaslini, Genova, Italy.
Michele
M
Torre
D001980:Bronchi / Q000601:surgery; D001984:Bronchial Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D001999:Bronchoscopy; D002276:Carcinoid Tumor / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D018277:Carcinoma, Mucoepidermoid / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D002648:Child; D016586:Granular Cell Tumor / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D012208:Rhabdomyosarcoma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D014132:Trachea / Q000601:surgery; D014134:Tracheal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D014140:Tracheotomy
Airway tumors; Bronchial carcinoid; Pediatric oncology; Pediatric surgical oncology; Primary tracheobronchial tumors; Tracheal tumors