The clinicopathological challenges of symptomatic and incidental pulmonary hamartomas diagnosis

Rom J Morphol Embryol. 2022 Oct-Dec;63(4):607-613. doi: 10.47162/RJME.63.4.02.ABSTRACTPulmonary hamartomas (PHs) are the most common benign lung tumors. Usually, they are asymptomatic and incidentally discovered during assessment for other diseases or during the autopsy exam. In this context, we have performed a retrospective analysis of surgical resections in a 5-year series of patients diagnosed with PHs in the Clinic of Pulmonary Diseases, Iaşi, Romania, aiming to evaluate their clinicopathological features. A total of 27 patients with PH (40.74% males and 59.26% females) were evaluated. 33.33% of patients were asymptomatic, while the others exhibited variable symptoms, such as chronic cough, dyspnea, chest pain or weight loss. In most cases, PHs presented as solitary nodules, predominantly disposed in the right upper lobe (40.74% of cases), followed by the right lower lobe (33.34%), and left lower lobe (18.51%). The microscopic examination revealed a mixture of mature mesenchymal tissue, such as hyaline cartilage, adipose tissue, fibromyxoid tissue, and smooth muscle bundles, in variable proportions, associated with clefts of entrapped benign epithelium. A dominant adipose tissue component was observed in one case. PH was associated with a history of extrapulmonary cancer diagnosis, in one patient. Although considered benign lung tumors, PHs diagnosis and therapy may be challenging. Having in mind the possibility of recurrence or their occurrence as a part of specific sy...
Source: Romanian Journal of Morphology and Embryology - Category: General Medicine Authors: Source Type: research