Multiple Pulmonary Chondromas in a Young Female Patient: A Component of Carney Triad

Abstract

Chondromas of the lung are rare benign tumors, and fewer than 100 cases with multiple chondromas have been reported since Bateson1 reported the first case. In 1977, J. Aidan Carney from the Mayo Clinic described pulmonary chondroma associated with gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) and extraadrenal paraganglioma as a syndrome, which was subsequently called the Carney triad.2 Sporadic case reports and a recent analysis demonstrated that the chondromas in the Carney triad usually occur in young women and are multiple, small, peripheral and not endobronchial, and commonly calcified.2,3 As most of the patients with Carney triad are asymptomatic and the pulmonary neoplasm(s) are usually found as incidental lesions on chest radiography, the diagnosis of Carney triad should be considered when multiple pulmonary chondromas are identified. Here, we report a case of Carney triad that initially presented with multiple lesions of the left lung.