Chest
Selected ReportsTracheobronchial Amyloidosis: A Case Report of Successful Treatment With External Beam Radiation Therapy
Section snippets
Case Report
The patient is a 60-year-old white woman with multiple medical comorbidities, including COPD, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, coronary artery disease, congestive heart failure, and an 80-pack-a-year history of cigarette smoking. She presented in June 2001 to an outside institution with a 3-week history of increasing shortness of breath, cough productive of white sputum, and occasional hemoptysis. The patient required 4 L/min of oxygen by nasal cannula at rest to maintain adequate oxygenation.
Discussion
TBA is a relatively rare disorder characterized by submucosal amyloid deposition in the airways ranging from the larynx to the distal airways. Commonly associated symptoms include dyspnea, nonproductive cough, hemoptysis, and hoarseness. Diagnosis is frequently delayed by up to 17 months,3 and is verified by green birefringence of Congo red-stained areas when viewed with polarized light.
TBA along with nodular and diffuse alveolar septal parenchymal involvement represent the three primary
Conclusion
A case of external beam radiation therapy for amyloidosis localized to the tracheobronchial tree is presented. We report improvements in functional status, pulmonary function, bronchoscopic visualization, and CT-based luminal diameters after moderate-dose radiation therapy. External beam radiation therapy may prove more definitive than current management techniques and warrants further investigation.
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