Intractable cough due to endobronchial chondroma

Abstract

A 62-year-old man, suffering from bronchial asthma was evaluated due to intractable cough. His dyspnea was controlled but cough remained unresponsive to escalation of asthma management steps. Cough occurred in bouts, especially during night time and was occasionally productive of mucoid sputum. Other than bilateral rhonchi on chest auscultation, remaining systemic examination was unremarkable. CT chest showed a mass lesion in the bronchus intermedius that was confirmed on bronchoscopy and was removed after electrocautery snare excision. Histopathology of the lesion was consistent with endobronchial chondroma. The patient experienced a dramatic resolution of cough post tumor removal. Follow up bronchoscopy after 24 months revealed no tumor recurrence.

Fig. 1

HRCT chest showing upper lobe centrilobular emphysema and a mass lesion in the truncus intermedius (1a); bronchoscopic sequential images (left to right) showing a mass in bronchus intermedius, snare application, removal and post removal clear airway (with some mucus).

Fig. 2

Polypoidal tissue covered by respiratory and focally squamous mucosa; lesional tissue showing congested vessels in the lamina propria with some scattered inflammatory cells (a) and stroma showing hyaline cartilage exhibiting lacunae in which are present single chondrocytes with small and inconspicuous nucleoli (b).