[A case of tracheal calculus in the pathogenesis of which fungal infection was probably involved].

A 63-year-old woman with a past history of bronchial asthma was admitted to our hospital with a diagnosis of status asthmaticus. Examination revealed a ring-shaped, calcified stone within the trachea immediately below the vocal cords. As the patient complained of increasing difficulty in breathing, emergency tracheotomy was performed in an attempt to save her life, with success. Bronchial calculus (broncholithiasis) has been occasionally reported, and it is hypothesized that the calculus is mostly caused by intra-bronchial perforation of calcified lymph nodes around the bronchus. Tracheal calculus is a rare disease, and our case is only the third ever reported in Japan. However, perforation of calcified lymph nodes was probably not responsible for this case, which probably resulted from repeated chronic inflammation and fungal infection.