A Case of Low-grade Pulmonary Mucoepidermoid Carcinoma Performed Radical Surgery after Recurrent Episodes of Pneumonia for 10 Years

Abstract

We performed lung lobectomy with bronchoplasty for a patient with mucoepidermoid carcinoma (MEC) with a 10-year history of repeated pneumonia, with a favorable postoperative course. The patient was a 44-year-old woman who was treated for pneumonia of the left lung and atelectasis of the left upper lobe in 2006 when computed tomography (CT) images showed a 0.8-cm nodular shadow in the bronchus of the left upper lobe. Despite recurrent episodes of pneumonia, the patient refused to receive bronchoscopy, but accepted close examination in 2016. The nodule had increased to 1.8 cm as seen on CT, and the left upper lobe was atelectatic. Bronchoscopy found that the orifice of the left upper lobe bronchus was occluded by a tumor. Although there were no signs of malignancy on a biopsy, it was clinically suspected of being carcinoid and was surgically removed. Intraoperative pathological testing revealed a diagnosis of low-grade MEC, and a left upper lobectomy+ND1b and bronchoplasty was performed. The postoperative course was good, and the patient has been recurrence-free for 2 years. The prognosis of low-grade MEC is relatively good, and it is desirable to actively select pulmonary function-preserving surgery. Bronchoplasty could have been unnecessary if the MEC had been detected 10 years earlier using bronchoscopy.