Expectoration of bronchogenic tumour tissue.

摘要

A 77-year-old man who smoked heavily was admitted to our hospital, complaining of haemoptysis. Transbronchial lung biopsy showed small-cell lung cancer (SCLC), stage T4N3M0. He achieved a partial response after four cycles of first-line chemotherapy, but had a recurrence and received second-line chemotherapy. After four cycles of chemotherapy, he again had recurrence of the tumour anda computed tomography (CT) scan of the chest showed right hilar iymphadenopathy and a large subcarinal mediastinal mass (Fig. I). He was treated with third-line chemotherapy, but developed stridor 4 days later. Chest radiograph was consistent with collapse of the right lower lobe (Fig. 2a). He had a paroxysm of coughing and expectorated a greyish red fragment of tissue measuring 3.0 cm X 2.5 cm X 1.0 cm (Fig. 3a). Histological examination of the expectorated tissue showed small-cell carcinoma (Fig. 3b). After expectoration of tumour tissue, the patient felt better and repeat chest X-ray indicated re-expansion of the right lung (Fig. 2b). A CT scan of the chest (not shown) showed a marked reduction in tumour bulk. He was generally well without any signs of recurrence after 1 year after the initial diagnosis of SCLC.