title: Clinicopathological analysis of pulmonary mucoepidermoid carcinoma.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Mucoepidermoid carcinoma (MEC) of the lung is a rare malignant neoplasm. We aimed to investigate clinicopathological features, therapies, and prognoses of eight MEC cases.
  
  
  METHODS
  Eight patients underwent surgical treatment for pulmonary MEC between 2005 and 2012 at the Thoracic Surgical Department of West China Hospital, Sichuan, China. The clinical data, radiological manifestation, treatment strategy, pathological findings, and prognoses of all patients were analyzed retrospectively.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among the eight cases (four males and four females), the age of patients ranged from 35 to 71 years (mean age 50.67 years). Two tumors were located in the upper lobes and three masses were located in the lower lobes. The other three lumps were located in the left main bronchus, middle segmental bronchus of the right lobe, and trachea, respectively. The characteristics of the tumors were consistent with low grade MEC (n = 6) and high grade MEC (n = 2). All of the patients were sent for oncological evaluations, and three patients with N1 or N2 disease received chemotherapy. One of the patients died from brain metastasis at 15 months. Seven of the eight patients were alive at the time of evaluation. The median survival time was 40 (range 8 to 88) months.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Mucoepidermoid tumors have to be treated by radical surgery with lymph node sampling and dissection. Patients with low grade tumors can be expected to be cured following complete resection. Careful histological typing plays a key role in prediction of late results, and further studies are needed.
authors: Cheng
authors: C
authors: Shen
authors: Department of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, No, 37, Guoxue Alley, Chengdu, Sichuan Province 610041, China. cheguowei_hx@aliyun.com.
authors: Guowei
authors: G
authors: Che
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D018277:Carcinoma, Mucoepidermoid / Q000473:pathology*; D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed