A Case of Bronchial Mucoepidermoid Carcinoma with Chronic Cough

Suh, Kyeong Hee; Lee, Soo Jung; Oh, Jin Hee; Kim, Jong Hyun; Koh, Dae Kyun

Abstract

Mucoepidermoid carcinoma of the bronchus is a very rare tumor comprising only 0.1-0.2% of primary lung cancers and characterized by mixture of mucus-secreting cells, squamous cells, and cells of intermediate type. It occurs in any age from 3 months to 78 years, but nearly half of the cases are younger than 30 years. It usually occurs in the main or lobar bronchi as a soft, vascular polypoid mass that induces bronchial obstruction, recurrent pneumonia, chronic cough, and/or hemoptysis. Although mucoepidermoid carcinomas of the bronchi are known to have malignant potential, generally appear to behave in benign fashion in children and making conservative pulmonary resection sufficient and adequate as a therapy. We describe a case of mucoepidermoid carcinoma of proximal left lower lobe bronchus in 10-year-old girl, nearly completely obstructing the lower lobe bronchus and partially obstructing the upper lobe bronchus.