• Bahadir T Uskul, Hatice Turker, Ibrahim S Dincer, Alkin Melikoglu, Oktay Tasolar, and Canan Tahaoglu.
• Chest Diseases Department and Pathology Department, Sureyyapasa Training and Research Hospital for Chest Diseases and Thoracic Surgery, Istanbul, Turkey. tbuskul@yahoo.com
• South. Med. J. 2008 May 1; 101 (5): 546-9.

AbstractPrimary tumors of the trachea are rare and can be missed because of the paucity of symptoms and findings and the difficulty in detecting them with chest radiographs. A 31-year-old male patient was admitted with complaints of shortness of breath, coughing, phlegm, and blood in the sputum. He stated that he was being treated for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Fiberoptic bronchoscopy revealed a vegetative mass with a wide base on the posterolateral wall of the distal one-third of the trachea. Postoperative histopathological examination revealed a typical carcinoid tumor. In patients with an unexplained cough, dyspnea, infrequent hemoptysis, and normal pulmonary imaging findings, tracheal carcinoma should be suspected. In such cases, early thoracic computed tomography and bronchoscopic examination can provide a rapid diagnosis and treatment options and prevent a false diagnosis.

28 keywords...

hide…