Background and objectives: Mucoepidermoid carcinoma of the tracheobronchial tree is a rare tumour which displays a variable degree of clinical aggressiveness and malignancy. The relationship between the patient's prognosis and the tumour's histological features and clinical behaviour is uncertain. The aim of this study was to identify the clinicopathological features and analyse the outcomes of patients with this type of cancer.
Methods: A retrospective analysis of the medical records of patients diagnosed with mucoepidermoid carcinoma of the lung between 1991 and 2006 was conducted.
Results: The study comprised 15 patients. Higher histological grade tumours had a higher proportion of squamoid cells (P = 0.019); the tumours of patients with lymph node metastases also had a higher proportion of squamoid cells than did the tumours of patients without lymph node metastases (P = 0.015). Patients with early stage tumours (stage IA, IB, IIB) had better outcomes (10-year survival rate = 87.5%), than did patients with late-stage tumours (stage IIIB, IV) (1-year survival rate = 28.6%; 2-year survival rate = 0%, P = 0.001). Patients with lower-grade tumours (grade 1 and grade 2) had better outcomes (1-year survival rate = 80%; 5-year survival rate = 57.1%) than did patients with higher-grade tumours (grade 3) (1-year survival rate = 20%, P = 0.035). Tumour staging was a significant independent predictor of survival on Cox proportional hazards analysis.
Conclusions: The proportion of squamoid cells on tumour histology may be an indicator of the level of tumour malignancy. Tumour, node, metastasis staging is a significant determinant of prognosis in patients with tracheobronchial mucoepidermoid carcinoma.