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. 2014 Feb 8:12:33.
doi: 10.1186/1477-7819-12-33.

Clinicopathological analysis of pulmonary mucoepidermoid carcinoma

Cheng Shen, Guowei Che  1
Affiliations

Clinicopathological analysis of pulmonary mucoepidermoid carcinoma

Cheng Shen et al. World J Surg Oncol. .

Abstract

Background: Mucoepidermoid carcinoma (MEC) of the lung is a rare malignant neoplasm. We aimed to investigate clinicopathological features, therapies, and prognoses of eight MEC cases.

Methods: Eight patients underwent surgical treatment for pulmonary MEC between 2005 and 2012 at the Thoracic Surgical Department of West China Hospital, Sichuan, China. The clinical data, radiological manifestation, treatment strategy, pathological findings, and prognoses of all patients were analyzed retrospectively.

Results: Among the eight cases (four males and four females), the age of patients ranged from 35 to 71 years (mean age 50.67 years). Two tumors were located in the upper lobes and three masses were located in the lower lobes. The other three lumps were located in the left main bronchus, middle segmental bronchus of the right lobe, and trachea, respectively. The characteristics of the tumors were consistent with low grade MEC (n = 6) and high grade MEC (n = 2). All of the patients were sent for oncological evaluations, and three patients with N1 or N2 disease received chemotherapy. One of the patients died from brain metastasis at 15 months. Seven of the eight patients were alive at the time of evaluation. The median survival time was 40 (range 8 to 88) months.

Conclusion: Mucoepidermoid tumors have to be treated by radical surgery with lymph node sampling and dissection. Patients with low grade tumors can be expected to be cured following complete resection. Careful histological typing plays a key role in prediction of late results, and further studies are needed.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Computed tomography (CT) features. (A) CT showed a mass in the middle segmental bronchus of the right lobe (arrowhead). (B) Patient with partial atelectasis of the right lower lobe was observed. (C and D) CT revealed a mass shadow in the hilus of the right lung of the same patient (arrowhead). CT, computed tomography.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Histological features. (A and B) HE staining revealed MEC of the pulmonary neoplasms. (HE × 200). (C and D) HE staining revealed MEC of the pulmonary neoplasms. (HE × 400). HE, hematoxylin and eosin; MEC, mucoepidermoid carcinoma.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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