A rare cause of dyspnea and cough: Diffuse tracheal papillomatosis.

An 85-year-old man presented to our hospital for the evaluation of dyspnea and cough. Diffuse tracheal papillomatosis was noted on computed tomography findings (Figure 1A and Figure 1B).

FIGURE 1:

Chest computed tomography findings in the coronal (A) and air-specific reformat (B) views demonstrating diffuse tracheal papillomatosis (arrows).

Respiratory papillomatosis usually develops from persistent infection of the respiratory mucosal epithelium by human papillomavirus 6 or 11 strains. Approximately 5% of patients with laryngeal papillomatosis have involvement of the trachea, proximal bronchi, or both. Malignant transformation rarely occurs in cases of recurrent respiratory papillomatosis , . Tracheal papillomatosis should be kept in mind as a rare cause of cough and dyspnea.