Occurrence of Bronchial Adenoma and Pulmonary Tuberculosis

Only a few years ago bronchial adenoma was considered a rare tumor. Recently, however, an increasing number of reports have been published of this neoplasm. On the basis of their experience Lindskog and Liebow3 hold that bronchial adenomata comprise 4 to 5 per cent of all pulmonary neoplasms. An adenoma originating in the bronchial wall gives rise to symptoms of obstruction, infection and haemorrhage. Similar symptoms are also seen in two diseases which are far more common than adenoma, i.e., carcinoma of the lung and pulmonary tuberculosis. From the point of differential diagnosis the most difficult cases are those in which two diseases clinically resembling each other are coincidently present. The more common disease or the one first diagnosed readily masks the other condition, as is also shown by the case described below.