Roentgenological occult large-cell neuroendocrine carcinoma: Report of a long-term survivor

Mitsuhiro Kamiyoshihara; Takashi Ibe; Hitoshi Igai; Natsuko Kawatani; Atsushi Takise; Hideaki Itoh; Kimihiro Shimizu

doi:10.1016/j.rmcr.2012.12.001

Roentgenological occult large-cell neuroendocrine carcinoma: Report of a long-term survivor

Respir Med Case Rep. 2013 Jan 10:8:14-7. doi: 10.1016/j.rmcr.2012.12.001. eCollection 2013.

Authors

Mitsuhiro Kamiyoshihara¹, Takashi Ibe¹, Hitoshi Igai¹, Natsuko Kawatani¹, Atsushi Takise², Hideaki Itoh³, Kimihiro Shimizu⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of General Thoracic Surgery, Maebashi Red Cross Hospital, 3-21-36 Asahi-Cho, Gunma 371-0014, Maebashi, Japan.
² Department of Respiratory Medicine, Maebashi Red Cross Hospital, Maebashi, Japan.
³ Department of Pathology, Maebashi Red Cross Hospital, Maebashi, Japan.
⁴ Division of Thoracic and Visceral Organ Surgery, Gunma Graduate University School of Medicine, Maebashi, Japan.

Abstract

A 64-year-old male patient complained of a one-month history of bloody sputum. A polypoid tumor was almost obstructing the orifice of the subsegmental bronchus (B8b) of the anterior basal segment of the right lower lobe on bronchoscopy. Biopsy specimens of the tumor surface yielded a diagnosis of undifferentiated carcinoma. Clinical staging was T1aN0M0, stage IA. Surgical resection that comprised a right upper lobectomy with systematic mediastinal and hilar lymph node dissection was performed. Histopathologically, the tumor specimen was compatible with large-cell neuroendocrine carcinoma (LCNEC) of the subsegmental bronchus. Pathological staging was T1aN0M0, stage IA. To our knowledge, few cases of central-type LCNEC have been reported in the English literature, and ours is the first report of roentgenological occult LCNEC.

Keywords: Endobronchial tumor; Large-cell neuroendocrine carcinoma; Prognosis; Roentgenological occult lung cancer.