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Tumorlets, Lung

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Pathology

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Pathology ((EP))

  • 14 Accesses

Synonyms

Peripheral adenoma, Carcinoid tumorlet, Microscopic oat cell carcinoma, Minute peripheral pulmonary tumor. Currently, their use is discouraged for the sake of clarity and scientific sound.

Definition

Tumorlets are locally invasive proliferation of well-differentiated neuroendocrine cells, sized 5 mm or less in diameter, with no mitoses, necrosis, or vascular invasion, which variably associate with fibrosis and neuroendocrine cell hyperplasia.

Clinical Features

  • Incidence

The real incidence of tumorlets in the lung is difficult to assess, as these lesions are usually found by chance in resected pulmonary specimens excided for other reasons. They have been described in 2% of unselected autopsies, sometimes in association with diffuse panbronchiolitis, granulomatous infection, bronchiectasis, lobar sequestration, or chronic abscess (Pelosi et al. 1992).

  • Age and Risk Factors

Tumorlet patients peak around 50 years. There are no known risk factors, including smoke. However, tumorlets...

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References

  • Hassan, W. A., Udaka, N., Ueda, A., Ando, Y., & Ito, T. (2015). Neoplastic lesions in CADASIL syndrome: Report of an autopsied Japanese case. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Pathology, 8, 7533–7539.

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  • Pelosi, G., Zancanaro, C., Sbabo, L., Bresaola, E., Martignoni, G., & Bontempini, L. (1992). Development of innumerable neuroendocrine tumorlets in pulmonary lobe scarred by intralobar sequestration. Immunohistochemical and ultrastructural study of an unusual case. Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, 116, 1167–1174.

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  • Pelosi, G., Nesa, F., Taietti, D., Servillo, S. P., Papanikolaou, N., Zompatori, M., Meroni, A., Harari, S., & Incarbone, M. (2019). Spread of hyperplastic pulmonary neuroendocrine cells into air spaces (S.H.I.P.M.E.N.T.S): A proof for artifact. Lung Cancer, 137, 43–47. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lungcan.2019.09.006.

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  • Travis, W., Brambilla, E., Burke, A., Marx, A., & Nicholson, A. (2015). WHO classification of Tumours of the lung, pleura, thymus and heart. Lyon: IARC Press.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Oncology and Hemato-Oncology, University of Milan, Milan, Italy

    Giuseppe Pelosi

Authors
  1. Giuseppe Pelosi
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Giuseppe Pelosi .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. NIJMEGEN, The Netherlands

    J.H.J.M. van Krieken

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Pelosi, G. (2020). Tumorlets, Lung. In: van Krieken, J. (eds) Encyclopedia of Pathology. Encyclopedia of Pathology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28845-1_5257-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28845-1_5257-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-28845-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-28845-1

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference MedicineReference Module Medicine

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