A Case of Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma in the Peripheral Lung for which MRI was Useful for Diagnosis

Abstract

A 63-year-old man presented to our hospital because of an abnormal shadow in a chest radiograph at a medical examination. A chest CT scan showed a nodule of ϕ13 mm in the periphery of the lower right lobe. A chest MRI was performed, because a follow-up chest CT scan revealed the tumor to have grown to 18 mm in diameter, and mucus-producing adenocarcinoma was suspected. On the chest MRI, adenoid cystic carcinoma was suspected and surgery was performed. It was difficult to diagnose by intraoperative cytology, and the possibility of lung malignancy could not be ruled out. Therefore, intraoperative pathological diagnosis was performed, and adenoid cystic carcinoma, was diagnosed. Video-assisted thoracoscopic right lower lobectomy was performed. Adenoid cystic carcinoma arisen in the peripheral lung is very rare. In this case, a mucus producing tumor was suspected by chest CT and adenoid cystic carcinoma, by chest MRI. We report this case of adenoid cystic carcinoma in the peripheral lung for which MRI was useful for diagnosis.