1982 Volume 21 Issue 1 Pages 66-71
The authors discovered two different atypical cells while conducting sputum cytology on an 81-year-old male. Because each cell had the features of small cell carcinoma cells and squamous cell carcinoma cells, we believed this to be a case of a primary double pulmonary carcinoma of small cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma. The subject died in six months, and we had the opportunity to perform autopsy, which confirmed the presence of two types of carcinoma. It is extremely rare for a patient to be diagnosed as having double carcinoma while still alive. The major part of this study involves the cytological findings while the subject was still alive. The outline of the histopathological findings upon autopsy is also given along with discussion of the literature on primary double pulmonary carcinoma.
The authors also point out that the possibility of discovering such cases through cytological observation will increase in the future.
