Neoplastic tracheal stenosis

Primary tracheal tumors (PTT) are relatively rare and their diagnosis often late because the symptomatology is noncharacteristic and the signs only appear when over 60% of the lumen is obstructed. The most frequent histologic type is epithelioma (50 to 60%), but the glandular type which has a low malignant potential constitutes 25% to 40% of PTT, especially cystic adenoid carcinoma (cylindroma), which has a slow development but widely infiltrates the submucosa, distant from the macroscopic limits of the tumor. True benign tumors are rare. It is very important to know the tumor dimensions, and radiology is the best means of diagnosis in suspect cases. The usual treatment is surgery alone or associated with radiotherapy. The surgical techniques are now well-known and the operative mortality is very low when the indications are good. Excellent long-term results have been obtained with benign tumors, poor results, but sometimes with long palliation, in cases of epithelioma, and good results in cases of recurrent cylindroma. Statistics are, however, unavailable due to the fact that there is no large and homogeneous series.