[Inflammatory bronchial polyps with a foreign body-like substance].

A 68-year-old male complaining of hemosputum was admitted to our hospital. Fiberoptic bronchoscopic examinations revealed bronchial polyps and a flat foreign body-like substance in the left main bronchus. A closer inspection of a biopsied bronchial inflammatory polyp showed inflammatory edema with hypervascularization in the submucosal space and inflammatory cell infiltration. Following complete removal of this foreign body-like substance, the polyps disappeared within six weeks. It is therefore feasible to assume that the polyps appeared as a reaction to this extrinsic substance. The origin of the foreign matter is not obvious because the patient had no history of aspiration and because the histological examination did not confirm that it was a foreign body. The substance could have been formed out of the organization and calcification of some secretes in the bronchus.