Tracheocele: A Rare Entity

Tracheocele or tracheal diverticulum is an uncommon benign entity that can be congenital or acquired. It is usually diagnosed incidentally on cervicothoracic imaging. Our aim is to describe the etiopathogenic, clinical and paraclinical features of the tracheocele as well as its therapeutic modalities.

We report 2 cases of asymptomatic congenital tracheocele occurred in a boy and a woman, incidentally found on cervical CT scan done for accidental ingestion of chicken bone and infected thyroid hematocele respectively. The tracheocele, in our 2 cases, was probably congenital: no risk factors were noted and the opening of the tracheocele was narrow. The tracheocele was located in the right posterolateral tracheal wall in the 2 cases. It communicated with the tracheal lumen in one case. The female patient underwent a right lobectomy and resection of the tracheocele. For the boy, our attitude was conservative. The evolution was uneventful in the 2 cases.

The presence or absence of risk factors, CT scan, bronchoscopy and histologic exam may distinguish between congenital and acquired forms. Asymptomatic patients are managed conservatively. Surgical resection is the treatment of choice for symptomatic patients.