Does Pulmonary Hamartoma Increase the Risk of Lung Cancer? Outcomes of 38 Pulmonary Hamartoma Cases

[A case of pediatric tracheal inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor]

Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor is a rare tumor of mesenchymal origin. A case of intratracheal inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor in a male child was reported. The clinical characteristics, diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of the disease were reviewed based on the literature, and a differential diagnosis between inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor and hamartoma was performed to ultimately confirm the nature of the tumor in the child.

An Indonesian female with pulmonary cystic hamartoma: a case report and literature review

Pulmonary cystic hamartoma is a rare benign cystic mass of the lung with clinical symptoms and radiological features that are not typical.

Case presentation

A 43-year-old Indonesian female complained of chest and right shoulder pain, especially in the right clavicle. The patient underwent a chest X-ray and computed tomography scan thorax contrast, resulting in an anterior mediastinal tumor. The patient underwent wedge resection, and anatomical pathology showed pulmonary cystic hamartoma. The patient experienced postsurgery improvement.

Discussion

Pulmonary cystic hamartoma does not have typical signs and symptoms. Pulmonary hamartoma diagnosis cannot be confirmed until a pathology anatomy examination is performed. Wedge resection is the first choice to treat pulmonary cystic hamartoma.

Conclusion

Pulmonary cystic hamartoma is diagnosed with examination from pathology anatomy.

The clinicopathological challenges of symptomatic and incidental pulmonary hamartomas diagnosis

Pulmonary 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 syndromes, PHs should be thoroughly investigated for an appropriate patients' management. Their complex significance and the correlation with other types of lesions, including malignancies, may be further studied, by more extensive studies of surgical and necroptic cases.