ALTHOUGH papilloma of the larynx is not an uncommon finding, primary papilloma of the trachea is infrequent and papillomatosis of the trachea, particularly in adults, is rare. Gilbert, Kaufman, and Mazzarella,1 in reviewing the literature up to 1949, compiled a total of 529 primary tumors of the trachea.
The first recorded observation of a tracheal tumor was that of Lieutaud, in 1767, who discovered at necropsy a benign tumor believed to be a fibroma.2 Turck, in 1861, was the first to observe a tracheal growth in a living person by indirect laryngoscopy.2 In 1897, Killian visualized and diagnosed a tracheal tumor by endoscopy for the first time.3
Many kinds of tracheal tumors, both inflammatory and neoplastic, have been described since Lieutaud's original observation. The true neoplasms comprise a great variety of benign as well as malignant new growths. Of the benign neoplasms, papilloma is the most