Case Report
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Oct 16, 2023; 11(29): 7136-7143
Published online Oct 16, 2023. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v11.i29.7136
Mucoepidermoid carcinoma of the lung with hemoptysis as initial symptom: A case report
Wen-Xing Xie, Rong Liu, Zheng Li, Pei-Ling Zhou, Li-Na Duan, Dan-Dan Fu
Wen-Xing Xie, Rong Liu, Zheng Li, Pei-Ling Zhou, Li-Na Duan, Dan-Dan Fu, Department of Respiratory Medicine, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Zunyi Medical University, Zunyi 563000, Guizhou Province, China
Author contributions: Xie WX and Liu R contributed to manuscript writing and editing and data collection; Li Z and Zhou PL contributed to data analysis; Duan LN and Fu DD contributed to conceptualization and supervision; all authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Informed consent statement: Informed written consent was obtained from the patient for publication of this report and any accompanying images.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors declare that they have no conflict of interest to disclose.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Dan-Dan Fu, MD, Doctor, Department of Respiratory Medicine, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Zunyi Medical University, Xinpu Avenue, Xinpu New District, Honghuagang District, Zunyi 563000, Guizhou Province, China. fdd5920@126.com
Received: June 12, 2023
Peer-review started: June 12, 2023
First decision: August 16, 2023
Revised: August 27, 2023
Accepted: September 18, 2023
Article in press: September 18, 2023
Published online: October 16, 2023
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Mucoepidermoid carcinoma of the lung is a rare malignant tumor, accounting for 0.1%–0.2% of all lung malignancies. It is a primary salivary gland tumor of the lung. Surgical resection is the primary treatment for pulmonary mucoepidermoid carcinoma, for which there has been no standardized treatment strategy. This article reports a case of a young woman with pulmonary mucoepidermoid carcinoma with hemoptysis as the first symptom.

CASE SUMMARY

A 24-year-old female patient presented with "4 d of hemoptysis" as the chief complaint. She had no special history and denied any smoking or drinking history. Physical examination revealed that the vital signs were stable and scattered small wet rales were heard in the left lung. After admission, the lung tumor markers were checked, and no abnormalities were found. After completing the bronchoscopy, a spherical lesion was observed at the main bronchus 1.5 cm away from the protubercle, with obvious pulsation and little blood seepage on the surface, and histopathological biopsy results showed acute and chronic inflammation. She was transferred to the Department of Thoracic Surgery for surgical treatment on the 16th day after admission. After exclusion of surgical conjunctures, the patient underwent resection of the tumor in the left main bronchus with single-pore video-assisted thoracic surgery on the 19th day after admission. The postoperative histopathological biopsy results showed mucoepidermoid carcinoma of the lung. The patient and her family refused to complete genetic testing and she was discharged from the hospital on the 8th day after surgery. During the follow-up period, the patient experienced shortness of breath after feeling active and had no special discomfort.

CONCLUSION

We have documented a case of moderately differentiated mucoepidermoid lung cancer with hemoptysis as the first symptom to improve clinicians' understanding of the disease and provide a new dimension of thinking for its future diagnosis and treatment.

Keywords: Mucoepidermoid carcinoma of the lung, Malignant tumor, Bronchoscopy, Surgical treatment, Case report

Core Tip: Mucoepidermoid carcinoma of the lung is a rare tumor. This paper reports a young female patient who was diagnosed with mucoepidermoid carcinoma of the lung with hemoptysis as the first symptom to improve the clinician's understanding of the disease and to help its clinical diagnosis and treatment.