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Benign endobronchial tumors are rare clinical entities characterized by considerable variability in etiology and clinical presentation. The authors report four cases of endobronchial hamartomas treated and followed up from 2018 to 2023. Three of these cases, with identical endobronchial localization in the right lower lobe, were radically treated in flexible bronchoscopy with the only use of biopsy forceps. Another case with a different localization in the left main bronchus was treated with a laser through rigid bronchoscopy. In addition, the authors outline the main interventional pulmonological strategies for the treatment of benign tumors with endobronchial growth based on the existing literature.

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Alectinib is a highly selective tyrosine kinase inhibitor of anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) that is approved as first-line treatment in adult patients with ALK-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and as second-line in patients previously treated with crizotinib, and has been shown in the literature to significantly prolong progression-free survival compared to chemotherapy in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer. The authors describe a clinical case of a 24-year-old woman with malignant massive pleural effusion caused by ALK rearranged pulmonary adenocarcinoma with pleural and pericardial metastasis, in which, despite a dramatic clinical debut, the correct and timely management of the diagnostic and therapeutic path allowed for extraordinary therapeutic success.

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We report an unusual mediastinal recurrence along descending thoracic aorta during oncologic follow-up in a 47-year-old female smoker issued by lung adenocarcinoma with a history of left lower lobectomy and lingulectomy en bloc followed by adjuvant chemotherapy for stage III A-N2. Regional recurrence occurring along the staple line was suspected and endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) combined to PET/CT allowed to reach definitive tissue diagnosis. High focal hypermetabolic activity on PET/CT at the site of suspect recurrence was necessary to check the lesion sampling by EBUS-TBNA.

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Pulmonary hamartomas represent the most frequent family of benign lung tumors that typically involve the lung parenchyma and only rarely grow as endobronchial tumors. The elective treatment of endobronchial hamartoma is the bronchoscopic resection, and in those cases in which tumor extension and localization makes it not possible, surgical treatment must be evaluated. Patients with symptomatic COVID-19, hospitalized, frequently undergo a chest CT scan and in some cases, occasional findings may emerge, requiring diagnostic investigations such as bronchoscopy and interventional pulmonology procedures. Therefore, in such a delicate pathological condition, such as COVID-19, the need to perform bronchoscopy and interventional pulmonology procedures, minimizing the risk of viral transmission and ensuring necessary assistance, represents a great challenge for pulmonologists. In this article authors describe, for the first time in literature, a rare case of endobronchial hamartoma, radically resected using a single use bronchoscope, in a young female patient hospitalized for symptomatic COVID-19.

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Malignant pleural effusion represents a prognostic negative factor on survival conferring stage IV disease. The median of survival is 5 months and a 5-year survival of about 3%. We describe the therapeutic success obtained from different strategies in anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) inhibitors in 2 young women showing malignant pleural effusion secondary to advanced ALK-rearranged lung adenocarcinoma. This report shows that for patients with EGFR mutations in advanced lung adenocarcinoma-associated malignant pleural effusion, complete response to EGFR TKI inhibitor can be observed mostly if pleural effusion and primary lung adenocarcinoma show the same EGFR mutation status.

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Malignant central airway obstruction is a life-threatening condition that often causes respiratory failure. In many cases, treatment of tumor in rigid bronchoscopy must be performed urgently, soothing respiratory symptoms and improving patient quality of life, in many cases reducing time to and allowing application of oncologic therapies. Immuno-oncologic therapies target the immune system selectively and are therefore much less toxic than standard chemotherapies, sometimes leading to outstanding results in advanced cancers for which there were no effective treatments until a few years ago. This report shows the effect of the joint application of rigid bronchoscopy and targeted immunotherapy in an emergency scenario, resulting in an unexpected extraordinary therapeutic success.

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Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome due to Coronavirus-19 (SARS-CoV-2) is caused by combined alveolar-capillary lung damage, with bilateral pneumonia and thrombosis, which often causes respiratory failure. Proper COVID-19 management requires high skills in airway control and the need to perform aerosol-generating procedures such as bronchoscopy, which can increase the possibility of virus spreading among healthcare professionals. In an epidemiologically delicate moment, the multidisciplinary decision on "WHEN, HOW and WHY" to perform bronchoscopies minimizing the risk of COVID-19 transmission, represented a great challenge for all specialists engaged in bronchoscopic procedures. In this work authors want to share all technical aspects of 87 videobronchoscopies performed in confirmed or suspected COVID-19 patients, from 3rd to 6th January 2020, describing the reason, the organizational and operational model and patients characteristics. Was also evaluated the impact of high-risk procedures such as bronchoscopy on the personnel involved. The disclosure of all technical details, represents, in the opinion of the authors, an important contribution, capable of providing support to all physicians engaged in bronchoscopy procedures in confirmed or suspected COVID-19 patients.

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BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to evaluate the use of laryngeal mask airway (LMA)® Protector™ by comparison with traditional LMA for performing endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA). METHODS: This was a retrospective observational single-center study including 143 patients who underwent EBUS-TBNA for mediastinal staging of lung cancer. Patients were retrospectively divided into two groups based on whether a traditional LMA (traditional LMA group) or LMA Protector was used. Anesthesiologist outcomes, diagnostic yield of EBUS-TBNA, and complications related to the procedure were computed for each group and statistically compared. RESULTS: LMA traditional group and LMA Protector group counted 70 and 73 patients, respectively. LMA traditional group versus LMA Protector group showed no significant difference on time of LMA insertion (120±25 vs. 118±39 s; P=0.49), reposition rates (18% vs. 16%; P=0.78); systolic pressure (140±55 vs. 118±37 mmHg; P=0.59); diastolic pressure (82±15 vs. 90±26 mmHg; P=0.39); heart rate (82±9.9 vs. 83±20 bpm; P=0.49); SpO2 values (93±21% vs. 92±14%; P=0.63); diagnostic accuracy (91.3% vs. 92%; P=0.95), and patients' complications as nausea (4% vs. 3%; P=0.61); vomiting (3% vs. 1%, P=0.96); gastric aspiration (7% vs. 1%; P=0.08); and sore throat (7% vs. 3%; P=0.22). Conversely, LMA traditional group versus LMA Protector group presented a longer procedural time (47±23 vs. 38±17 s; P=0.02), higher number of passage to biopsy target lesion (4±0.5 vs. 3.1±0.6; P=0.01); higher rate of balloon ultrasound rupture (11% vs. 1%; P=0.01). CONCLUSIONS: EBUS-TBNA conducted with LMA Protector is a useful strategy that reduced the procedural time and in theory ensured the comfort of patients. Our results should be confirmed by larger, prospective, randomized studies.

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