PMC4670640_01
CT-scan of the chest showing an irregular elongated shadow in apical segment of right upper lobe.
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fig1
A chest CT-scan showed an elongated irregular shadow with traces of air-bronchogram stripes in it (Figure 1) for which the patient underwent fiberoptic bronchoscopy (FOB) to exclude malignancy.
Bronchoscopic image of the patient's normal tracheal mucosa.
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fig2
Upper airways and trachea were normal (Figure 2) but right main bronchus was roughened by multiple unequal sized nodules with no signs of infiltrated mucosa along the bronchus' entire length (Figure 3).
Bronchoscopic image of the patient's right main bronchus showing unequal nodular protrusions of the mucosa.
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fig3
Upper airways and trachea were normal (Figure 2) but right main bronchus was roughened by multiple unequal sized nodules with no signs of infiltrated mucosa along the bronchus' entire length (Figure 3).
Histopathologic image of patient's bronchial wall showing presence of cartilaginous tissue in submucosa, compatible with tracheobronchopathia osteochondroplastica (Hematoxylin-Eosin stain x40).
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fig4
Step sections showed that there was indeed continuity through narrow pedicles, in concordance with the view that the condition represented multiple ecchondroses of the bronchial cartilages (Figure 4).