Lung Tumors Flashcards
(52 cards)
What is the most significant risk factor for developing lung cancer?
cigarette smoke
What is the most common lung tumor?
adenocarcinoma
most common in men, women & never smokers
In addition to cigarette smoke, what are the most common risk factors associated with lung cancer?
Asbestos
Arsenic
Uranium
Ionizing radiation
pollution
pre-existing inflammatory lung disease
What is an adenocarcinoma?
invasice epithelial tumor with glandular differentiation and/or mucin production
Adenocarcinmoma most commonly affects whats demographic?
non-smoking women
What are the gross features of an adenocarcinoma?
Microscopic organizations?
- Gross
- peripheral scar with pleural puckering
- Micro
- lipedic predominant
- acinar predominant
-
(micro)papillary predominant
- poor prognosis
- solid
- mucinous

What does lipedic predominant mean when describing an adenocarcinoma?
you have an invasive adenocarcinoma that is a small part of the lesion & the bulk of the lesion is actually non-invasive (atypical cells hanging onto alveolar septa)
“butterflies on a treebranch”
treebranch is alveolar septa & butterflies are the atypical cells

What type of lung tumor is shown in the provided image?
Identify its characteristic features.

- Bottom right
- micropapillary variant
- tufts of papillae
- Grossly
- big, white, grey mass that is out toward the periphery
- dip on right border = puckering
- all others -
- glands
- cribiform (pierced by many small holes)
What are the two associated/precursor lesions to adenocarcinoma?
What do they have in common?
- Atypical adenomatous hyperplasia
- Adenocarcinoma I-Situ
both entirely lipidic in growth
Describe the features of atypical adenomatous hyperplasia.
- 5mm of less
- cytologically mildly to moderately atypical pneumocytes admixed with cilliated and goblet cells
- note cell on the alveolar septa with abundant mucin in cytoplasm
- diagnosis not made w/o disclaimer b/c cannot varify there is not verify there is not an invasive componenet

Describe the features of adenocarcinoma In-Situ.
- less than 3cm
- monotonous population of cells with “more atypia than AAH” but still entirely lipedic growth
- cells that have large nucleus hanging on alveolar septa
- diagnosis not made on biopsy w/o disclaimer b/c cannot varify there is not verify there is not an invasive componenet

What are the two stains used to diagnose adenocarcinoma?
- TTF-1 (thyroid transcription factor)
- positive for primary adenocarcinoma of the lung
- negative for all other adenocarcinoma metastasis to the lung (other than thyroid)
- example in provided image
- Napsin A

What two mutations are associated with adenocarcinoma?
- Gain of function mutations involving GF signaling pathways (mutually exclusive)
- Receptor Tyrosine Kinase (TK) (have a drug for that!)
- tend to occur in never smokers
- EGFR
- ALK
- tend to occur in never smokers
- KRAS (poor prognostic)
- Receptor Tyrosine Kinase (TK) (have a drug for that!)
What is squamous cell carcinoma?
It most commonly affects what demographic?
Where do they most common in occur in the lung?
- invasive epithelial tumor characterized by evidence of squamous differentiation
- Demographic
- male smokers
- Location
- central - sub segmental bronchi
- peripheral are on the rise
Why is important to differentiate between squamous cell carcinoma & adenocarcinoma?
- bevacizumab - used to treat adenocarcinoma- can cause serious pulmonary hemorrahage in squamous cell carcinoma
Describe the gross growth patterns & appearance of squamous cell carcinoma.
- Appearance
- grey-white, firm cut surface
- often centrally necrotic +/- cavitation
- Growth patterns
- exophytic endobronchial mass
- obstruction, atelectasis, infection
- peribronchiolar spread
- mediastinal disease
- nodular intraparanchymal mass
- exophytic endobronchial mass

What microscopic findings are characteristic of squamous cell carcinoma?
- keratinization
- keratin pearls
- dyskeratosis
- intracellular bridges (desmasomes)

What are associated/precursor lesions of squamous cell carcinoma?
- squamous metaplasia
- increasing degrees of squamous dysplasia
- squamous cell carcinoma in-situ (found adjacent to invasive tumor)
What pathology is shown in the provided images?

Squamous cell carcinoma
- Upper middle image
- mass spreading along peri-bronchiolar area
- Bottom right
- classic cavitation
- Bottom middle
- intercellular bridges
- top right
- keratin pearls
What stains are used to diagnose squamous cell carcinoma?
- Positive
- P40
- P63
- Negative
- TTF-1
- Napsin A
What mutation is associated with sqamous cell carcinoma?
highest TP53 mutations of all histologic types
What is large cell carcinoma?
How is it diagnosed?
undifferentiated non-small cell carcinoma that lacks morphologic & immunohistochemical evidence of other differentiated forms of lung cancer
Diagnosis of exclusion
What are the microscopic characteristics of large cell carcinoma?
- micro
- large nuclei
- prominent nucleoli
- moderate amount of cytoplasm
- no pearls, bridges, glands or mucin

What stains are diagnostic for large cell carcinoma?
- Diagnostic - nothin’
- no TTF-1
- no Napsin A
- no p40
- no p63









