title: Primary pulmonary adenoid cystic carcinoma: report of a case diagnosed by fine-needle aspiration cytology.
abstract: Adenoid cystic carcinoma of the lower respiratory tract is an uncommon tumor that can arise in the mainstem bronchus and often presents as an endobronchial mass lesion causing bronchial obstruction with post obstructive atelectasis and pneumonia. Exfoliative cytology is seldom useful in the diagnosis of primary bronchial adenoid cystic carcinoma, because these neoplasms usually have a submucosal location with often intact mucosa. Since most endobronchial adenoid cystic carcinomas are endoscopically visible, bronchoscope-guided fine-needle aspiration constitutes an excellent approach to establish a pathologic diagnosis. The fine-needle aspiration cytology of primary pulmonary adenoid cystic carcinoma has been rarely described. We report a case of primary adenoid cystic carcinoma of the lung having characteristic cytologic features and correlate with computed tomography, bronchoscopic, and histological findings. Bronchoscope-guided aspiration cytology provided a conclusive diagnosis of adenoid cystic carcinoma, which was further corroborated by histology in the pneumonectomy specimen. Diagn. Cytopathol. 2004;30:51-56.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas 77555-0548, USA.
authors.forename: Suimin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Qiu
authors.forename: Madhavan M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Nampoothiri
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zaharopoulos
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Logroño
mesh_terms: D008949:Adenoma, Pleomorphic / Q000473:pathology; D044963:Biopsy, Fine-Needle; D001999:Bronchoscopy; D002276:Carcinoid Tumor / Q000473:pathology; D003528:Carcinoma, Adenoid Cystic / Q000473:pathology*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed