Lung cancer

Question 1

What is squamous cell carcinoma in the lungs?

Answer 1

Lung cancer of central location, associated with smoking.
Paraneoplastic parathyroid-like actions.
Keratin pearls are seen histologically.

Question 2

What is Pancoast’s tumour?

Answer 2

Lung cancer in the apex, resulting in Horner’s syndrome: miosis, ptosis and anhidrosis.

Question 3

What is mesothelioma in the lungs?

Answer 3

Lung cancer of the pleura, associated with asbestosis.

Psammoma bodies are seen histologically.

Question 4

What is adenocarcinoma in the lungs?

Answer 4

Lung cancer of peripheral location, not associated with smoking. More common in women. Associated with hypertrophic osteoarthropathy. Mucin-positive staining seen on histology.

Question 5

What is large cell carcinoma in the lungs?

Answer 5

Lung cancer of peripheral location.
Patient is likely to have a poor outcome.
Lack light microscopic features of other tumour types.
Larger sized anapaestic cells.
High cytoplasmic-to-nuclear size ratio.
Treated by surgical excision of tumour.

Question 6

What is small cell carcinoma in the lungs?

Answer 6

Lung cancer of central location, a.k.a. oat cell carcinoma.
Very aggressive, therefore treat solely with chemotherapy regime.
ACTH and ADH are generated ectopically.
Associated with Lambert-Eaton syndrome.
Kulchitsky cells are seen histologically.
Non-small cell carcinomas are any epithelial derived lung cancers that are not small cell carcinoma, and are relatively insensitive to chemotherapy.