Endobronchial Tumors in Children: An Uncommon Clinical Entity

Abstract

We performed a retrospective chart review of 10 children in whom endobronchial tumors were diagnosed in a tertiary-care children's medical center from 1988 to 1998. Of the 10 patients, 6 were male and 4 were female (8 white, 1 Hispanic, 1 African American). The mean age at presentation was 5.2 years. Eight tumors were benign, and 2 were malignant; 4 were on the right side, 3 were on the left side, and 3 were bilateral. Histologic findings included 3 bronchial papillomas, 3 inflammatory masses, 1 endobronchial hemangioma, 1 leiomyoma, 1 mucoepidermoid carcinoma, and 1 bronchial carcinoid. Endobronchial tumors in children are a rare disorder. The diagnosis requires a high index of suspicion in children with atypical or chronic respiratory complaints. Newer adjuvant medical therapies and surgical innovations offer improved disease control in these patients, and a multidisciplinary approach is often warranted.

Keywords

endobronchial mass pediatric tumor tracheal tumor

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Hartman

Shochat

. Primary pulmonary neoplasms of childhood: A review. Ann Thorac Surg 1983; 36: 108–19.

Hancock

DiLorenzo

Youssef

Yazbeck

Marcotte

Collin

. Childhood primary pulmonary neoplasms. J Pediatr Surg 1993; 28: 1133–6.

Lack

Harris

Eraraklis

Vawter

. Primary bronchial tumors in childhood. Cancer 1983; 51: 492–7.

Jackson

. Wheezing respiration in children. Am J Dis Child 1931; 41: 153–7.

Tischer

Reddemann

Herzog

. Experience in surgical treatment of pulmonary and bronchial tumours in childhood. Prog Pediatr Surg 1987; 21: 118–35.

Desai

Holinger

Gonzalez-Crussi

. Tracheal neoplasms in children. Ann Otol Rhinol Laryngol 1998; 107: 790–6.

Hasleton

. Pulmonary mycotic disease. In: Hasleton

Spencer's pathology of the lung. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 1996: 273–301.

Chintapalli

Gurney

Glenn

Sharkey

. Mycotic pulmonary infections. Crit Rev Diagn Imaging 1992; 33: 231–92.

Maxson

Jacobs

. Community-acquired fungal pneumonia in children. Semin Respir Infect 1996; 11: 196–203.

10.

Lerner

DeLuca

. Mediastinal granuloma secondary to histoplasmosis. Am Fam Physician 1991; 43: 1649–51.

11.

Blumenfeld

Gan

. Diagnosis of histoplasmosis in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid by intracytoplasmic localization of silver-positive yeast. Acta Cytol 1991; 35: 710–2.

12.

Landay

Rollins

. Mediastinal histoplasmosis granuloma: Evaluation with CT. Radiology 1989; 172: 657–9.

13.

Kneale

Turton

. Bronchoscopic findings in a case of bronchopulmonary histoplasmosis. Thorax 1995; 50: 314–5.

14.

Bahadori

Liebow

. Plasma cell granulomas of the lung. Cancer 1973; 31: 191–208.

15.

Sarosi

. Community-acquired fungal diseases. Clin Chest Med 1992; 12: 337–47.

16.

Bullock

. Principles and practice of infectious disease. New York, NY: Churchill Livingstone, 1995: 2340–53.

17.

Johnson

Sarosi

. Current therapy of major fungal diseases of the lung. Infect Dis Clin North Am 1991; 5: 635–45.

18.

Ezekowitz

Mulliken

Folkman

. Interferon alpha-2a therapy for life threatening hemangiomas of infancy. N Engl J Med 1992; 326: 1456–63.

19.

Weber

Connors

Tracy

Bailey

. Complex hemangiomas of infants and children. Arch Surg 1990; 125: 1017–21.

20.

Ohlms

Jones

McGill

TJI

Healy

. Interferon alfa-2a therapy for airway hemangiomas. Ann Otol Rhinol Laryngol 1994; 103: 1–8.

21.

Bartlett

Riding

Salkeld

. Management of hemangiomas of the head and neck in children. J Otolaryngol 1988; 17: 111–20.

22.

Woolley

Lusk

. Multiple vascular lesions of an infant's airway. Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 1994; 111: 305–8.

23.

Cohen

Kaschula

. Primary pulmonary tumors in childhood: A review of 31 years' experience and the literature. Pediatr Pulmonol 1992; 14: 222–32.

24.

Whittaker

Pickering

CAC

Heath

Smith

. Pulmonary capillary hemangiomatosis. Diagn Histopathol 1983; 6: 77–84.

25.

Katzenstein

Gmelich

Carrington

. Sclerosing hemangioma of the lung. Am J Surg Pathol 1980; 4: 343–56.

26.

Cavaliere

Foccoli

Farina

. Nd: YAG laser bronchoscopy: A five-year experience with 1,396 applications in 1,000 patients. Chest 1988; 94: 15–21.

27.

Greinwald

Burke

Bonthius

Bauman

Smith

RJH

. An update on the treatment of hemangiomas in children with interferon alfa-2a. Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 1999; 125: 21–7.

28.

Enjroles

Riche

Merland

Escande

. Management of alarming hemangiomas in infancy: A review of 25 cases. Pediatrics 1990; 85: 491–8.

29.

Rimell

. Pediatric fiberoptic laser rigid bronchoscopy. Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 1996; 114: 413–7.

30.

Bauman

Smith

. Recurrent respiratory papillomatosis. Pediatr Clin North Am 1996; 43: 1385–401.

31.

Cohen

Geller

Seltzer

Thompson

. Papilloma of the larynx and tracheobronchial tree in children: A retrospective study. Ann Otol Rhinol Laryngol 1980; 89: 497–503.

32.

Solomon

Smith

RRL

Kashima

Leventhal

. Malignant transformation in non-irradiated recurrent respiratory papillomatosis. Laryngoscope 1985; 95: 900–4.

33.

Derkay

. Task force on recurrent respiratory papillomas: A preliminary report. Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 1995; 121: 1386–91.

34.

Pransky

Magit

Kearns

Kang

Duncan

. Intralesional cidofovir for recurrent respiratory papillomatosis in children. Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 1999; 125: 1143–8.

35.

Sweet

. Pulmonary leiomyoma. Am J Roentgenol Radium Ther Nucl Med 1969; 107: 823–6.

36.

Mullins

Barnes

. Childhood bronchial mucoepidermoid tumors: A case report and review of the literature. Cancer 1979; 44: 315–22.

37.

Seo

Warren

Mirkin

Weisman

Grossfield

. Mucoepidermoid carcinoma of the bronchus in a 4-year-old child, a high-grade variant with lymph node metastasis. Cancer 1984; 53: 1600–4.

38.

McDougall

Gorenstein

Unni

O'Connell

. Carcinoid and mucoepidermoid carcinoma of bronchus in children. Ann Otol Rhinol Laryngol 1980; 89: 425–7.