Can we Prevent Recurrences in the Endoscopic Treatment of Endobronchial Hamartomas?

Introduction:

Hamartomas are the most common benign pulmonary tumors. The incidence varies between 0.025% and 0.032%. Endobronchial hamartomas constitute 10-20% of all pulmonary hamartomas. Pulmonary hamartomas are usually asymptomatic and are diagnosed incidentally. In endobronchial hamartomas, at least one of the symptoms of airway obstruction such as cough, hemoptysis and dyspnea are most commonly seen (80%). The results of bronchoscopic removal of symptomatic endobronchial hamartomas and recurrence rates have been the subject of several studies.

Cryotherapy is an endobronchial therapy based on the cytotoxic effects of extreme cold on tumor tissues. Excessive cold causes intracellular and extracellular ice crystals to form in the affected tissue. These crystals damage intracellular organelles, especially mitochondria. The most lethal effect is the formation of intracellular ice crystals. This effect results from fast freezing and slow thawing cycles. In clinical practice, cryotherapy is used as an endobronchial treatment method capable of destroying tumor cells at a depth of 10 mm with a rigid probe and at a depth of 3 mm with a flexible probe.

The investigators investigated the treatment and long-term follow-up results of patients who underwent cryotherapy to the site of origin on the airway wall after the luminal part of the symptomatic endobronchial hamartomas was removed by interventional bronchoscopic methods. We aimed to determine the benefit of cryotherapy to conventional endobronchial debulking at the sites of origin of hamartomas.

Material and Methods: