Abstract
Five cases of mucoepidermoid carcinoma of the lung, one a low-grade malignant tracheal tumor and the others high-grade malignant bronchial tumor, were presented. The patient with low-grade malignant tracheal tumor underwent a segmental tracheal resection and is well and alive eight years after the operation. The four patients with high-grade malignant tumor succumbed to disease : one died 17 months after lobectomy ; the others had already had distant metastasis on admission and were dead within eight months. Chemotherapy was not effective in any patients. Ultrastructurally, mucous tumor cells had fibrillar inclusion bodies or central condensation, and hence we consider that these tumors are possibly of bronchial gland origin.
