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Bronchioloalveolar Carcinoma

Etiology: • unknown • resembles an infection disease in sheep--Jagziekte

Pathogenesis: • probably derives from terminal bronchiole alveolar complex

Epidemiology: • Affects patients from their 20's and older • Equal incidence in men and women • 1-9% of lung cancers • Affects patients from their 20's and older • Equal incidence in men and women

General Gross Description: • Peripheral single nodule (coin lesion) or multiple nodules • May fuse into a diffuse involvement of lung • If mucinous, may be gelatinous appearing grossly

General Microscopic Description: • Classically lines preexisting alveolar septae • Tall columnar cells containing mucin (Clara cell like) or • Columnar cells with extensive atypia and scattered mucin vacuoles

Clinical Correlations: • Late symptoms if not discovered incidentally • Occasional patients may have extensive mucinous secretions in diffuse disease • Isolated lesions may be cured by surgery • Metastatic disease appears late

References: • Cotran RS, Kumar V, Robbins SL. Robbins Pathologic Basis of Disease. W.B. Saunders, Philadelphia, 1994. pp. 725-6