[Diagnosis and therapy of endobronchial and tracheal hamartomas]

Endobronchial hamartomas are a tenth as frequent as the usually asymptomatic intrapulmonary hamartomas. We report on 7 patients. 2 men and 3 women had an endobronchial hamartoma. In one patient multiple endobronchial hamartomas were found in the left upper lobe. In a 56-year-old patient with an 8-year history of shortness of breath, cough and several episodes of pneumonia and acute onset of respiratory failure, a tracheal hamartoma was diagnosed. Frequently, endobronchial hamartomas can be resected without loss of lung tissue. Laser resection is often possible and may be the treatment of choice in elderly or inoperable patients. Because of lower risk, laser resection is frequently preferred to conventional operative resection in patients with tracheal hamartomas.