Pulmonary leiomyosarcoma

Abstract

Three cases of pulmonary leiomyosarcoma were presented. The characteristic clinical features were described with review of literature. In comparison with bronchogenic carcinoma, the leiomyosarcoma has some characteristics: 1) On chest X-ray, it usually appears as a sharply demarcated, even density round mass, growing rapidly within the lung, it unusually accompanies with hilar or mediastinal lymph node metastasis; 2) The preoperative cytological or pathological diagnosis is difficult either by sputum smear or by bronchoscopic biopsy or by fine needle percutaneous aspiration biopsy; 3) Pathological differential diagnosis of leiomyosarcoma of lung from anaplastic lung cancer is difficult. In conclusion, the primary pulmonary leiomyosarcoma is a rare malignant tumor, detecting the present illness seriously, paying attention to the chest X-ray films characterize, early surgical resection is the only way to get diagnosis and effective treatment method.