Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumour of the central airways: treatment and molecular analysis

Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumours (IMT) are a rare cause of endobronchial masses in adults. Surgery has been the mainstay of treatment of endobronchial IMTs, based on the potential for recurrence. Interventional pulmonology has emerged as a minimally invasive and lung function preserving modality...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Aparna Iyer, Teodora Radonic, Lukas C. Heukamp, Erik Thunnissen, Johannes M.A. Daniels
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: European Respiratory Society 2021-03-01
Series:ERJ Open Research
Online Access:http://openres.ersjournals.com/content/7/1/00151-2020.full
Description
Summary:Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumours (IMT) are a rare cause of endobronchial masses in adults. Surgery has been the mainstay of treatment of endobronchial IMTs, based on the potential for recurrence. Interventional pulmonology has emerged as a minimally invasive and lung function preserving modality in management of airway obstruction due to tumours. We present a series of three adult patients with IMT treated endobronchially with a short discussion on its potential role. We also discuss how molecular analysis of IMTs for mutations in genes such as ALK and ROS1 might provide insights into clinical behaviour and potential targetable therapy in advanced, unresectable and metastatic cases.
ISSN:2312-0541