Abstract
A case of squamous cell carcinoma of the right B^3a bronchus had metastatized to a hilar lymph node (N1), although the tumor was limited to within bronchial cartilage layer on post-surgical histologic examination. The patient was a 74-year-old male who had undergone curative external irradiation to an early laryngeal carcinoma seven months before. A right upper lobectomy was perfomed because of an accidentally discovered, endoscopically squamous cell carcinoma of polypoid type in right B^3a. The possibility of metastasis from the laryngeal carcinoma was reasonably ruled out because of its early stage and the absence of local relapse. Pathological study revealed a metastatic hilar lymph node, although the B^3a lesion did not extend beyond the bronchial cartilage. The literature on cases of clinically carly squamous cell carcinoma of the lung which metastatized to regional lymph nodes was reviewed, and implications for the treatment of such tumors was also discussed.
