[Radical treatment of bronchial carcinoids with Nd YAG laser]

Bronchial carcinoids belong to the malignant bronchial tumours. Most of them grow only by local expansion, but some may behave in a more aggressive way. During the authors' practice with therapeutic bronchoscopies, we have done Nd YAG laser necrotizing of bronchial carcinoids in order to establish the exact localisation of the tumour basis, or to reduce the tumour for palliative reasons. Four of our six patients have shown no sign of residual tumour growth after five years of observation, and their tumour is considered eradicated. In selected patients it is possible to eradicate bronchial carcinoids with laser necrotization, and thus save them from major surgery.