Well-differentiated fetal adenocarcinoma of the lung in a 20-year-old woman

Abstract

A 20-year-old woman was found to have a tumor shadow on chest X-ray examination during mass screening and was admitted to our hospital. The chest radiograph revealed a round tumor in the right upper lung field. Chest computed tomography (CT) showed a well-defined, 3-cm-diameter mass in the right upper lobe. The patient underwent a right upper lobectomy under video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery. The postoperative pathological diagnosis was well-differentiated fetal adenocarcinoma (WDFA), stage IA (pT1bN0M0). The patient was well and free of disease four years after surgery. WDFA is a rare pulmonary neoplasm resembling fetal lung and classified as a variant of adenocarcinoma. WDFA occurs in younger people more often than the other histological types of primary lung cancer. An additional young case of WDFA is reported, along with a review of the relevant literature.