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Vol.45 No.2 contents | Japanese/English |
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- Case Report -
A Case of Primary Signet-ring Cell Carcinoma of the Lung
Kentaro Kamiya1, 3, Hideyuki Ito1, Hideto Okuwaki1, 3, Takatomo Morita1, Takeshi Fujii2Departments of 1Chest Surgery, 2Pathology, International Medical Center of Japan, Japan, 3The Second Department of Surgery, University of Yamanashi, Japan
Background. Signet-ring cell carcinoma (SRCC) is common in the stomach, but rare in the lung. We report a case of primary SRCC of the lung. Case. A 28-year-old woman was admitted with continued hemoptysis. CT scan showed a heterogeneous mass in the right lower lobe and enlarged hilar lymph nodes. Right middle and lower bilobectomy with hilar and mediastinal lymph node dissection was performed. Macroscopically, a whitish solid mass, 57×50×37 mm in size, was found in the lower lobe. Histopathologically, the tumor was mainly composed of signet-ring cells containing, large mucin droplet (PAS and alcian blue positive) and having a small round nucleus displaced toward one end of the cytoplasm, and proliferating to fill alveolar spaces. The SRCC component occupied more than 95% of the tumor. Immunohistochemically, the tumor cells were positive for thyroid transcription factor-1 (TTF1) and cytokeratin-7 (CK7), but negative for cytokeratin-20 (CK20), bearing the hallmark of primary pulmonary carcinoma. Consequently, the tumor was diagnosed as primary SRCC of the lung in stage IIIA (pT2N2M0). Conclusion. One should keep in mind that primary SRCC might originate in the lung. There is a possibility that the SRCC component in lung carcinoma may be a prognostic factor.
key words: Signet-ring cell carcinoma (SRCC), Primary lung carcinoma, Thyroid transcription factor-1 (TTF1), Cytokeratin-7 (CK7)
Received: July 6, 2004
Accepted: January 6, 2005
JJLC 45 (2): 123-126, 2005
