Adenosquamous carcinoma of lung

Last revised by Bruno Di Muzio on 30 Jun 2020

Adenosquamous carcinoma of the lung is a rare type of non-small cell lung cancer containing both components of lung adenocarcinoma and lung squamous cell carcinoma (SCC)

It is thought to constituting 0.4-4% of cases non-small cell lung cancer.

  • cigarette smoking 8

The definition of adenosquamous carcinoma indicates a carcinoma showing components of adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma, with each comprising at least 10% of the tumor 4.

There may be a slight predominance towards the periphery of the lung 5-6.

There appears to be a wide imaging spectrum both in terms of size and morphology 5. Differentiation from other histological forms on imaging grounds alone can be difficult, if not impossible. They usually present as a single lesion, with mean tumor size ranging from 2.8 to 3.8 cm (range 0.6-11 cm), based on two studies 5-6.

It is thought to be more aggressive than both pure adenocarcinomas of the lung and pure squamous cell carcinomas of the lung 1. The early-stage disease may be amenable to surgery. There may also be an increased rate of lymph node metastases at the time of presentation compared with other histological types 7

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