Lung carcinoma with rhabdoid component. A series of seven cases associated with uncommon types of non-small cell lung carcinomas and alveolar entrapment
Rhabdoid tumor, included in the WHO
classification among large cell carcinomas of the lung, is
an uncommon type of lung carcinoma with poor
prognosis.
We report a series of 7 cases of lung carcinomas
with rhabdoid component in 10% and 80% of the tumor.
The associated tumor was adenocarcinoma in 3 cases -
one of them with focal micropapillary pattern - large cell
carcinoma in 2 cases, squamous cell carcinoma in 1 case
and pleomorphic carcinoma in 1 case. Two adenocarcinomas
showed a focal spindle cell component.
Micropapillary and pleomorphic types had not been
reported before as a component associated with rhabdoid
carcinomas. All cases were positive for vimentin, and
AE1/AE3 cytokeratin and 5 cases for cytokeratin 7. All
cases were negative for muscle and endothelial markers
and for chromogranin A. Synaptophysin was focally
positive only in one case.
Alveolar trapping inside the tumor was present in 3
cases - a phenomenon not well studied in lung
carcinomas and also not reported in tumors with
rhabdoid component.
Five patients died because of the tumor within 2 to
31 months after diagnosis, one of myocardial infarction
and only one is alive and disease free 123 months after
the diagnosis.
In summary, we describe 7 new cases of this
uncommon lung tumor with aggressive clinical course,
associated with infrequent histological types in
nonrhabdoid component and with alveolar trapping, a
nondescribed finding