Turkish Journal of Pathology

Türk Patoloji Dergisi

Turkish Journal of Pathology

Turkish Journal of Pathology

2012, Vol 28, Num, 3     (Pages: 286-289)

Primary Lymphoepithelioma-Like Carcinoma of the Lung: Report of a Rare Case and Review of the Literature

Neşe Arzu YENER 1, Ahmet BALIKÇI 2, Rahmi ÇUBUK 3, Ahmet MİDİ 1, Alpay ÖRKİ 4, Aynur EREN TOPKAYA 2

1 Department of Pathology, Maltepe University, Faculty of Medicine, İSTANBUL, TURKEY
2 Department of Microbiology, Maltepe University, Faculty of Medicine, İSTANBUL, TURKEY
3 Department of Radiology, Maltepe University, Faculty of Medicine, İSTANBUL, TURKEY
4 Department of Chest Surgery, Maltepe University, Faculty of Medicine, İSTANBUL, TURKEY

DOI: 10.5146/tjpath.2012.01139
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Primary lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma of the lung is a rare type of non-small cell lung carcinoma. In this study, we aimed to present a 62-year-old smoker male with a primary lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma of the hilar region of the left lung. The patient underwent left pneumonectomy and no adjuvant therapy was given. There were no other abnormalities on whole body PET/CT scan including the nasopharyngeal region. The patient showed seropositivity for EBV IgG but immunohistochemistry and PCR amplification studied on paraffin-embedded tissue sections of the tumor failed to show any sign of EBV infection within the tumor cells. He is alive and disease-free four months after the operation. Although primary lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma of the lung is usually reported in young females with no history of tobacco use and the tumor cells are infected with EBV, it may rarely be seen in elderly males with a history of tobacco use and the tumor cells not infected with EBV.

Keywords : Epstein-Barr virus, Carcinoma, Lymphoepitheliomalike, Lung cancer