Tracheobronchial amyloidosis: treatment by carbon dioxide laser photoresection.

Amyloidosis localised to the lower respiratory tract occurs in three forms: diffuse interstitial deposits, single or multiple pulmonary nodules, and most commonly tracheobronchial deposits.' Cough, dyspnoea, wheezing, haemoptysis, and recurrent pneumonia are the common presenting symptoms of patients with localised tracheobronchial amyloidosis.'-3 Localised bronchial deposits are usually found in the large lobar or segmental airways and they project into the lumen as rounded, smooth, greyish white sessile tumours. Intermittent bronchoscopic resection is the usual mode of treatment for obstructing endobronchial amyloidosis,3-5 although there have been isolated reports of treatment by pneumonectomy6 and radiotherapy.3 Laser photoresection vaporises or coagulates living tissue to a certain preselected depth. We here report two patients with tracheobronchial amyloidosis successfully treated by carbon dioxide laser photoresection.