[71 pulmonary hamarto-chondromas]

Seventy-one hamarto-chondromas were operated on at the Centre Chirurgical Marie-Lannelongue from January the 1st 1958 to September the 1st 1975. Pulmonary hamarto-chondroma is always a slowly evolving benign tumour, usually found in patients between 40 and 60, and twice as frequent in males as in females. There are two different kinds. 1) Intraparenchymal hamarto-chondromas, which have a noteworthy clinical latency and in 2 cases out of 3 are situated anteriorly and peripherally. The usual treatment consists of simple enucleation. 2) Endobronchial hamarto-chondromas, on the other hand, have a striking symptomatology of bronchial obstruction. If operated on after some delay, they will cause the destruction of distal parenchyma. Treatment depends on their topography. Segmental resection is often the sole recourse.