Endobronchial lipoma: a rare cause of bronchial occlusion.

Benign neoplasms of the endobronchial tree are uncommon, and among them lipomas are the most uncommon. Endobronchial lipoma is histologically benign in character but may cause bronchial obstruction. We describe a 47-year-old woman with an endobronchial lipoma arising from the right main bronchus which was treated as asthma for 4 years.

[Thoracic trauma: an analysis of 521 patients].

Background: We evaluated thoracic trauma cases with regard to etiologic causes, treatment methods, outcome, and factors affecting the results in the light of our experience and relevant literature data.

Methods: A retrospective evaluation was made of 521 patients (399 males, 122 females; mean age 42 years; range 4 to 93 years) who were treated for thoracic trauma from September 1997 to August 2002.

Results: Isolated thoracic trauma and multisystem trauma were found in 348 (67%) and 173 (33%) patients, respectively.