Mucoepidermoid carcinoma of the lung: a rare entity

Abstract

A 38-year-old lady presented with mild fever and dry cough of 1 week duration. Her chest X-ray showed right middle lobe collapse and consolidation. CT thorax revealed a mass in the right middle lobe. Subsequent bronchoscopy showed a growth completely occluding the right middle lobe bronchus and extending proximally into bronchus intermedius. Right bilobectomy (middle and lower lobes) with lymphadenectomy was performed. All the histomorphological features were suggestive of a low-grade mucoepidermoid carcinoma (MEC). MEC is one of the very rare neoplasms of the lung comprising <1% of all lung tumours. Low-grade MEC has a better prognosis than high-grade tumour, the latter being similar to that of non-small-cell lung carcinoma.