Bronchial foreign bodies simulating endobronchial malignancy

Reported are two cases of benign endobronchial lesions with granulomatous reactions that led to complete airway obstruction. Combined with a long history of cigarette smoking and the appearance of a hilar mass, these lesions appeared clinically to be bronchogenic carcinomas. Both cases went to thoracotomy, but in each case the requirement that malignant tissue be identified, allowed recognition of a foreign body in one case, and broncholith in the second, avoiding pneumonectomy in both cases.