A rare cause of dyspnea and cough: Diffuse tracheal papillomatosis

An 85-year-old man presented to our hospital for the evaluation of dyspnea and cough. Diffuse tracheal papillomatosis was noted on computed tomography findings (Figure 1A and Figure 1B).

FIGURE 1:
Chest computed tomography findings in the coronal (A) and air-specific reformat (B) views demonstrating diffuse tracheal papillomatosis (arrows).

Respiratory papillomatosis usually develops from persistent infection of the respiratory mucosal epithelium by human papillomavirus 6 or 11 strains. Approximately 5% of patients with laryngeal papillomatosis have involvement of the trachea, proximal bronchi, or both. Malignant transformation rarely occurs in cases of recurrent respiratory papillomatosis^1,2. Tracheal papillomatosis should be kept in mind as a rare cause of cough and dyspnea.

REFERENCES

• ¹ Zeleník K, Komínek P, Staníková L, Formánek M. Local Bevacizumab Treatment of Juvenile-Onset Respiratory Papillomatosis Might Induce Multiple Tracheal Pyogenic Granulomas. Laryngoscope. 2021;131(2):E518-E520.
• ² Shai SE, Wang LL, Hung SC. Curing a Patient of Recurrent Tracheal Papillomatosis Using Laser Ablation and Adjuvant Radiotherapy. Ann Thorac Surg. 2020;110(2):e91-e93.

• Financial Support: The authors declare that the article content was composed in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  25 July 2022
• Date of issue
  2022

History

• Received
  17 Mar 2022
• Accepted
  19 May 2022