[Pathological study of the pleomorphic carcinoma of the lung].
OBJECTIVE
A clinicopathological study of 10 patients with pleomorphic carcinoma of the lung.


METHODS
Histopathological and immunohistochemical staining for keratin, vimentin, Mac387, desmin, actin and S-100 protein were used for this study.


RESULTS
Pleomorphic carcinoma of the lung was found to often occur in males above 50 years of age and with clinical symptoms including cough, expectoration, haemoptysis and chest pain. The most frequent microscopic diagnosis was squamous cell carcinoma, and adenocarcinoma, accompanied by spindle and giant cells. The epithelial component of pleomorphic carcinoma of the lung displayed positivity for keratin and the spindle cells displayed positivity for vimentin. In some cases the neoplastic epithelial component and spindle cells showed positive expression of both keratin and vimentin.


CONCLUSIONS
Pleomorphic carcinoma of the lung may display various histopathological changes making it easy to be misdiagnosed as carcinosarcoma. Understanding its pathogenesis and histopathology is important for the diagnosis and differential diagnosis.
Xu
X
X
Department of Pathology, Nanjing General Hospital of PLA, Nanjing 210002, China.
Yin
H
H
Meng
K
K
Zhou
X
X
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000737:chemistry / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000737:chemistry / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D018286:Carcinoma, Giant Cell / Q000737:chemistry / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D018287:Carcinoma, Large Cell / Q000737:chemistry / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000737:chemistry / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D002296:Carcinosarcoma / Q000737:chemistry / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007633:Keratins / Q000032:analysis; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011013:Pneumonectomy / Q000379:methods; D014746:Vimentin / Q000032:analysis
D014746:Vimentin; D007633:Keratins