Pulmonary carcinosarcoma: Report of a case with review of the literature

Pulmonary carcinosarcoma is a very rare tumor, and its prognosis is usually worse than pulmonary carcinoma. We present a case with gigantic carcinosarcoma (10 x 7.7 x 7.2 cm) located in the right upper lobe, in which the discordance between the brief clinical course with limited symptoms and its large size are remarkable. No definite diagnosis was made preoperatively. He underwent right upper lobectomy and mediastinal lymph node dissection through thoracotomy. The postoperative course was smooth, and no tumor recurrence or metastasis was noted during the 9-month follow-up period. In the literature, carcinosarcoma have been divided into the endobronchial and peripheral types, which have different histological pictures. The controversy about pathology, diagnosis, and treatment of carcinosarcoma is also discussed.