Bronchial wall thickening

Bronchial wall thickening is an imaging descriptor used to describe abnormal thickening of bronchial walls and can arise from a vast number of pathological entities. It is one of the causes of peribronchial cuffing.

The presence of bronchial wall thickening usually (but not always) implies inflammation of the airways. On plain radiograph it can sometimes be often difficult to differentiate from peribronchovascular thickening. 

Pathology

Causes

• inflammatory
  • bronchial asthma ¹
  • cystic fibrosis - may also have an infective component
  • smoking related lung diseases
    • desquamative interstitial pneumonia
    • respiratory bronchiolitis interstitial lung disease
  • cryptogenic organising pneumonia
• infective
  • bronchitis which in turn can arise from various forms of infection which include
    • viral bronchitis
    • pulmonary pseudomonas infection
    • pulmonary aspergillus infection
      • allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis
    • pulmonary mycobacterial infections
      • pulmonary mycobacterium avium complex infection
• other
  • forms of pulmonary amyloidosis ²
  • neoplastic conditions
    • superficial endobronchial carcinoma ⁵
    • adenoid cystic carcinoma of tracheo-bronchial tree
    • diffuse idiopathic pulmonary neuroendocrine cell hyperplasia ³