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REVIEW article
Front. Med.
Sec. Pulmonary Medicine
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1544843
This article is part of the Research Topic Case Reports in Pulmonary Medicine 2024 View all 30 articles
A case of reversible tracheal diameter Mounier-Kuhn syndrome and literature review
Provisionally accepted- Central Hospital of Wuhan, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
Mounier-Kuhn syndrome (MKS), also known as tracheobronchomegaly (TBM) or tracheomegaly, is an extremely rare and chronic airway disease characterized by significant dilation of the trachea and central bronchi. Currently, there is a paucity of epidemiological studies on MKS, with the majority of data derived from case reports, resulting in limited understanding of this disease among clinicians. We encountered an 81-year-old male MKS patient whose diagnosis was delayed, and subsequently experienced a significant decrease in tracheal diameter post-diagnosis, marking the first documented case of reversible tracheal diameter in MKS patients. Concurrently, we conducted a review of 76 cases published within the past decade to procure comprehensive insights into the clinical characteristics of MKS patients.Based on our findings, we draw two key conclusions. First, at present, clinicians and radiologists have insufficient understanding of this disease, which often leads to missed diagnosis, misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis. Second, the tracheal diameter of MKS has the potential to be reversible with appropriate treatment. This is the first case where the tracheal diameter has been found to be reversible.
Keywords: Tracheobronchomegaly, Mounier-Kuhn syndrome, Reversible, Tracheal diameter, Tracheomegaly
Received: 13 Dec 2024; Accepted: 03 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Kong, Li and Ni. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Jixiang Ni, Central Hospital of Wuhan, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
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