Bronchitis Circumscripta

¹ The University Hospital, Department Diseases of the Chest.

Bronchitis circumscripta is a pathological entity consisting of a localized, circumscribed ulcerative or granulating lesion of the bronchial wall usually situated in one of the orificia of a lobar or segmental bronchus. The inflammation may later manifest itself as a local cicatricial reaction.

Distal to the circumscribed bronchostenosis, obstructive infiltration sometimes resulting in pneumonitis, bronchiectasis or abscess formation may occur.

Subjective symptoms are often absent or slight. Examples of case histories are cited, and the difficulty of differentiating bronchitis circumscripta from a so-called intramural bronchiogenic carcinoma is stressed, particularly since histological and cytological examination may yield only cellular metaplasia in both diseases.