Tuberculous tracheobronchial strictures: clinicopathological features and management with the bronchoscopic carbon dioxide laser.

Tuberculous tracheobronchial stricture is a rare disease entity at the present time. We report our experiences with carbon dioxide laser treatment for four patients with tuberculous strictures that were resistant to conventional management. All patients were relatively young but were debilitated by the disease. The lesions differed from other forms of benign tracheal strictures as they tended to involve the trachea and right side of the lung and were often multiple. The reasons for this are related to the organism per se and the anatomical arrangement of the tracheobronchial airway. The pathophysiology of tuberculous strictures in the tracheobronchial airway and the technique of bronchoscopic laser resection are outlined.