A 53-year-old woman presented with chest pain and progressive dyspnea. Thoracic computed tomography showed a large mass lesion in the right hilar region (Fig. 1A). Flexible bronchoscopy revealed a polypoid lesion protruding from the right main bronchus entrance to the trachea (Fig. 1B). The patient presented 20 days after bronchoscopy with cough and expectoration of a tumor larger than 3cm and reported relief from respiratory distress (Fig. 1C). Histopathological examination was reported as pulmonary malignant mesenchymal neoplasia.
Coronal thoracic CT section (A) shows a 110mm×80mm solid mass lesion located in the right hilar and invading the main bronchus (arrow). Flexible bronchoscopy shows a polypoid type endobronchial lesion protruding from the right main bronchus entrance to the trachea (B). Spontaneously expectorated tumor tissue of 33mm×20mm×14mm is seen macroscopically (C).
Spontaneous tumor expectoration is a rare presentation in patients with endobronchial or tracheal tumors. Tumor expectoration can also be seen due to primary lung cancer or endobronchial tumor metastasis.1,2 Although there are some cases of tumor expectoration reported in the literature, tissue expectoration larger than 3cm is a very rare condition.
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Conflict of interestThe authors declare that they have no conflict of interest to the publication of this article.
