Pulmonary hamartoma.
BACKGROUND
Pulmonary hamartoma is the most common type of benign lung tumors. We retrospectively reviewed the clinicopathological features of 61 patients with pulmonary hamartomas undergoing surgical resection in our institution.


METHODS
From 1971 to 2002, 61 patients with 62 pulmonary hamartomas underwent surgical resection in the Division of Thoracic Surgery, Taipei Veterans General Hospital. 45 were men and 16 were women (approximately in 3:1 ratio). Their mean age was 56.9 years (range 20 to 77 years). The medical records of these patients were reviewed. The information collected using a standardized data-collection form consisted of the age at presentation, gender, initial manifestations or symptoms, history of tobacco consumption, location of hamartoma, size of the lesions, state of calcification in the hamartoma, the results of preoperative bronchoscopic examination, operative procedures and pathological report of intra-operative frozen section. All available histological slides were reviewed by the same pathologist to reconfirm the diagnosis of pulmonary hamartoma.


RESULTS
Of the 61 patients with pulmonary hamartoma, 41 patients were clinically asymptomatic, 16 patients had new onset of respiratory symptoms and 4 patients had chronic cough. One patient had synchronous 2 separate lesions. The hamartomas were equally distributed in the pulmonary lobes with the mean transverse diameter of 1.8 cm measured in operation (range 0.2 to 5.0). No tumor recurrence developed after resection in our series. The mean follow-up was 8.9 years.


CONCLUSIONS
The vast majority of pulmonary hamartomas represent as solitary pulmonary nodule. Definite diagnosis and the treatment can be achieved by surgical resection with minimal morbidity. No tumor recurrence was encountered in the follow-up period.
Lien
Yung-Chang
YC
Division of Thoracic Surgery, Department of Surgery, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
Hsu
Han-Shui
HS
Li
Wing Yin
WY
Wu
Yu-Chung
YC
Hsu
Wen-Hu
WH
Wang
Liang-Shun
LS
Huang
Min-Hsiung
MH
Huang
Biing-Shiun
BS
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006222:Hamartoma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies