pulmonary adenosquamous carcinoma

WP

Adenosquamous carcinoma of the lung is a rare subtype of non–small cell carcinoma of the lung, constituting 0.4% to 4% of cases.

The definition of adenosquamous carcinoma indicates a carcinoma showing components of adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma, with each comprising at least 10% of the tumor.

The prognosis of adenosquamous carcinoma is generally worse than that of adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma of the lung; however, new therapeutic options have been found for adenocarcinoma of the lung that could potentially impact adenosquamous lung carcinoma.

The frequency rate of adenosquamous carcinoma was 2.6% of 2160 primary lung cancers resected in the National Cancer Center Hospital (Tokyo, Japan).

The survival curves of patients with adenosquamous carcinomas, adenocarcinomas, and squamous cell carcinomas indicated that the outcome of adenosquamous carcinoma was poorer than that of adenocarcinomas and squamous cell carcinomas, particularly in Stages I and II.

The amount of adenocarcinoma component did not affect the survival rate, although the histologic features of metastatic lymph nodes was somewhat influenced by the histologic type of the primary tumors. The histologic subtype of adenosquamous carcinoma was one of the independent prognostic determinants.

References

 Adenosquamous carcinoma of the lung: a microdissection study of KRAS and EGFR mutational and amplification status in a western patient population. Tochigi N, Dacic S, Nikiforova M, Cieply KM, Yousem SA. Am J Clin Pathol. 2011 May;135(5):783-9. PMID: 21502435

 Clinicopathologic characteristics of adenosquamous carcinoma of the lung. Takamori S, Noguchi M, Morinaga S, Goya T, Tsugane S, Kakegawa T, Shimosato Y. Cancer. 1991 Feb 1;67(3):649-54. PMID: 1985759