2017 Volume 39 Issue 4 Pages 308-311
Background. Primary tracheobronchial leiomyoma is generally characterized as an endobronchial growth that can be completely resected by bronchoscopic intervention in some cases. We herein report a case involving a man with a bronchial leiomyoma that exhibited marked extraluminal development (so-called "iceberg tumor growth pattern" ) over the bronchial wall. Case. A 39-year-old man presented to our hospital with a chief complaint of recurrent pneumonia. Chest computed tomography images showed a 15-mm-diameter tumor located at the orifice of the right middle bronchus and extending extraluminally. Bronchoscopy revealed a white and gently sloping tumor protruding into the middle right bronchus. Transbronchial biopsy of the tumor revealed a leiomyoma. Bronchotomy followed by right middle lobectomy was successfully performed to identify the tumor location and provide curative treatment. Conclusion. Both bronchoscopy and chest computed tomography can be recommended not as a bronchoscopic intervention but as a surgical intervention for endobronchial leiomyoma with an iceberg tumor growth pattern.
