Journal of Pathology and Translational Medicine

Case Report

Mineralizing Pulmonary Elastosis Associated with a Giant Cell Carcinoma.: Min Kyung Kim, Kwang Il Kim, Min Joo Kim, Young Woo Suh, Il Hun Seo, Hyun Ju Lee, Han Gyeom Kim; Korean J Pathol. 1998;32(9):691-693.

Abstract: Mineralizing pulmonary elastosis is a result of chronic alveolar hemorrhage forming iron encrustation of a pulmonary elastic tissue. It has been reported as a complication of some diseases such as bronchiectasis, idiopathic pulmonary hemosiderosis, and cardiac failure. It is extremely rare to occur with a giant cell carcinoma as we experienced. A 59 year-old man visited our hospital for cough and blood tinged sputum. A chest CT scan revealed 10 9 6 cm sized round mass in the left upper lobe. He had lobectomy of left upper lobe, but died of respiratory failure at the postoperative eighteenth day. The lung showed a necrotic tumor and a yellow tan consolidation around the mass. Microscopically, the tumor was composed of nests or syncytia of large bizarre cells and tumor giant cells, and was diagnosed as a giant cell carcinoma. Interestingly, in the surrounding lung parenchyma there were a lot of foreign body type giant cells phagocytizing iron encrustated elastic fibers, which were easily identified by elastic van Gieson and prussian blue stains. Those degenerated elastic fibers appeared in pulmonary interstitial tissue as well as blood vessel walls. The authors concluded tumoral hemorrhage and necrosis resulted in mineralizing pulmonary elastosis.

Original Article

Cytologic Findings of Giant Cell Carcinoma of the Lung.: Cheol Hee Yun, Ji Yeon Bae, Sang Pyo Kim, Kun Young Kwon, Chung Sook Kim, Eun Sook Chang; Korean J Cytopathol. 1994;5(2):154-159.

Abstract PDF: Pulmonary giant cell carcinoma is one of the most highly malignant neoplasms of the lung. Although mixed malignant glandular or squamous components may be associated with a giant cell carcinoma, it is a distinct clinical and morphologic entity. We reviewed cytologic presentations of 6 cases of pulmonary giant cell carcinoma. Cytologically, the single most characteristic feature of giant cell carcinoma was an extremely large, bizarre cancer cell engulfing numerous leukocytes. The nuclei of these cells showed occasional prominent nucleoli, and the cytoplasm was abundant. Giant cells were also seen in other types of pulmonary carcinoma, but the giant cells of this neoplasm could be differentiated from those encountered in undifferentiated large cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma by the abundant cytoplasm, the presence of markedly enlarged nuclei, prominent nucleoli, and an significant degree of phagocytosis, In conclusion, precise diagnosis and classification of lung cancer is imperative because of proved correlation between cell type and prognosis.

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