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Mucoepidermoid carcinoma of bronchus in a pediatric patient: 18F-FDG PET findings

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Abstract

In children, primary neoplasms of the tracheobronchial tree and lungs are rare; most are malignant. Of the primary malignant pulmonary neoplasms arising in childhood, mucoepidermoid carcinoma accounts for approximately 10%. Due to its well-confined local growth within the airway, mucoepidermoid carcinoma commonly produces respiratory symptoms from progressive tracheal or bronchial obstruction. Mucoepidermoid tumor has minimal metastatic potential in children, and local resection alone is the current treatment of choice. Early detection, diagnosis, and surgical resection of mucoepidermoid tumor are especially important in pediatric patients since the bulk of the remaining pulmonary parenchyma can be preserved, thereby decreasing the thoracic deformity and pulmonary functional morbidity. Radiographic and CT imaging findings of bronchial mucoepidermoid carcinoma in children have been described in several case reports. However, to the best of our knowledge, imaging findings of 2-(18F)-fluoro-2-deoxy-d-glucose positron emission tomography (18F-FDG PET) of mucoepidermoid carcinoma of the bronchus in pediatric patients have not been well established. We report a mucoepidermoid carcinoma arising from the right upper lobe bronchus in a 15-year-old girl with an emphasis on the 18F-FDG PET findings.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by a GE-AUR research award, a research grant from the Society of Thoracic Radiology, and a research fellow grant from the Society for Pediatric Radiology (E.Y.L.) and NIH grant 5K08CA093554 (S.D.V.).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departments of Radiology and Medicine, Pulmonary Division, Children’s Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School, 300 Longwood Ave, Boston, MA, 02115, USA

    Edward Y. Lee

  2. Department of Pathology, Children’s Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Sara O. Vargas

  3. Division of Respiratory Diseases, Children’s Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Gregory S. Sawicki & Debra Boyer

  4. Department of Radiology, Children’s Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Frederick D. Grant & Stephan D. Voss

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  1. Edward Y. Lee
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  2. Sara O. Vargas
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  3. Gregory S. Sawicki
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  4. Debra Boyer
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  5. Frederick D. Grant
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  6. Stephan D. Voss
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Correspondence to Edward Y. Lee.

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Lee, E.Y., Vargas, S.O., Sawicki, G.S. et al. Mucoepidermoid carcinoma of bronchus in a pediatric patient: 18F-FDG PET findings. Pediatr Radiol 37, 1278–1282 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00247-007-0607-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00247-007-0607-x

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