Anesthesiologists preparing a patient for robotic surgery had what should have been an ideal setup. A video laryngoscope gave them a clear view of the airway. Yet the breathing tube would not advance.
The cause, doctors at Cardarelli Hospital in Naples, Italy, later found, was a previously unrecognized disease called tracheobronchopathia osteochondroplastica (TO), in which hard nodules of cartilage and bone grow along the inside of the windpipe and main airways. The team described the case in a report in Clinical Case Reports published Sept. 23, 2026.
