Tracheobronchopathia osteochondroplastica. Report of a young man with severe disease and retrospective review of 18 cases.

Tracheobronchopathia osteochondroplastica (TPO) is a rare condition of unclear cause. Sporadic cases have been published from all over the world, but some geographical differences in the occurrence may exist. The condition is characterized by cartilaginous or bony outgrowths into the lumen of the tracheobronchial tree. Clinicians should include this disease in the list of differential diagnoses when confronted with symptoms like persistent and often productive cough, haemoptysis, dyspnoea and wheeze. If the condition is extensive, there may occur unexpected and acute clinical problems. We describe the case of a young man in whom we diagnosed a severe form of TPO while examining him for asthma. This patient suffered also from ozaena and the combination of these two conditions is rather common. We also retrospectively reviewed our material of 18 cases with this condition.