Clinical and pathological evaluation of primary mucoepidermoid carcinoma of the lung

摘要

Objective and Methods. We performed clinical and immmohistochemical examination of 8 patients with primary mucoepidermoid carcinoma of the lung who were operated on in our hospital; these patients represented 0.55% of all cases of primary lung cancer. Results. The mean patient age at the time of the operation was 41.9 ?14.9 years, and the male-to-female ratio was 5:3. Chief complaints were bloody sputum in 2 patients, chest pain in 1, and fever in 1. However, the remaining 4 patients had no symptoms. The tumor was in the trachea and peripheral bronchus in 1 patient each. In the remaining 6 patients, the tumor was between the main bronchus and the segmental bronchus. Chest X-ray revealed a mass shadow in 5 patients and atelectasis in 1 patient. However, X-ray revealed no findings in the remaining 2 patients. Segmental tracheal resection, lobectomy, and pneumonectomy were performed in 1, 5, and 2 patients, respectively. Complete resections were performed in all patients. Seven patients were able to be examined immunohistochemically. These patients had a diploid pattern on DNA histograms. However, only 1 of these patients with lymph node metastases had positive staining for p53 and MIB-1; this patient died due to recurrence 3 years and 5 months after the operation. Conclusion. MIB-1 and p53 immunostaining may be useful when judging malignant potential in patients with pulmonary mucoepidermoid carcinoma.