Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Contents
- Contributors
- Foreword to the First Edition
- Preface to the Sixth Edition
- Acknowledgements
- Chapter 1 The normal lung: histology, embryology, development, aging and function
- Chapter 2 Lung specimen handling and practical considerations
- Chapter 3 Congenital abnormalities and pediatric lung diseases, including neoplasms
- Chapter 4 Pulmonary bacterial infections
- Chapter 5 Pulmonary viral infections
- Chapter 6 Pulmonary mycobacterial infections
- Chapter 7 Pulmonary mycotic infections
- Chapter 8 Pulmonary parasitic infections
- Chapter 9 Acute lung injury
- Chapter 10 Interstitial lung diseases
- Chapter 11 Metabolic and inherited connective tissue disorders involving the lung
- Chapter 12 Hypersensitivity pneumonitis
- Chapter 13 Sarcoidosis
- Chapter 14 Occupational lung disease
- Chapter 15 Eosinophilic lung disease
- Chapter 16 Drug- and therapy-induced lung injury
- Chapter 17 Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and diseases of the airways
- Chapter 18 Pulmonary vascular pathology
- Chapter 19 Pulmonary vasculitis and pulmonary hemorrhage syndromes
- Chapter 20 The pathology of lung transplantation
- Chapter 21 The lungs in connective tissue disease
- Chapter 22 Benign epithelial neoplasms and tumor-like proliferations of the lung
- Chapter 23 Pulmonary pre-invasive disease
- Chapter 24 Epidemiological and clinical aspects of lung cancer
- Chapter 25 Lung cancer staging
- Chapter 26 Immunohistochemistry in the diagnosis of pulmonary tumors
- Chapter 27 Adenocarcinoma of the lung
- Chapter 28 Squamous cell carcinoma of the lung
- Chapter 29 Large cell carcinoma and adenosquamous carcinoma of the lung
- Chapter 30 Salivary gland neoplasms of the lung
- Chapter 31 Neuroendocrine tumors and other neuroendocrine proliferations of the lung
- Chapter 32 Sarcomatoid carcinomas and variants
- Chapter 33 Mesenchymal and miscellaneous neoplasms
- Chapter 34 Pulmonary lymphoproliferative diseases
- Chapter 35 Metastases involving the lungs
- Chapter 36 Diseases of the pleura
- Index
- References
Chapter 32 - Sarcomatoid carcinomas and variants
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2014
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Contents
- Contributors
- Foreword to the First Edition
- Preface to the Sixth Edition
- Acknowledgements
- Chapter 1 The normal lung: histology, embryology, development, aging and function
- Chapter 2 Lung specimen handling and practical considerations
- Chapter 3 Congenital abnormalities and pediatric lung diseases, including neoplasms
- Chapter 4 Pulmonary bacterial infections
- Chapter 5 Pulmonary viral infections
- Chapter 6 Pulmonary mycobacterial infections
- Chapter 7 Pulmonary mycotic infections
- Chapter 8 Pulmonary parasitic infections
- Chapter 9 Acute lung injury
- Chapter 10 Interstitial lung diseases
- Chapter 11 Metabolic and inherited connective tissue disorders involving the lung
- Chapter 12 Hypersensitivity pneumonitis
- Chapter 13 Sarcoidosis
- Chapter 14 Occupational lung disease
- Chapter 15 Eosinophilic lung disease
- Chapter 16 Drug- and therapy-induced lung injury
- Chapter 17 Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and diseases of the airways
- Chapter 18 Pulmonary vascular pathology
- Chapter 19 Pulmonary vasculitis and pulmonary hemorrhage syndromes
- Chapter 20 The pathology of lung transplantation
- Chapter 21 The lungs in connective tissue disease
- Chapter 22 Benign epithelial neoplasms and tumor-like proliferations of the lung
- Chapter 23 Pulmonary pre-invasive disease
- Chapter 24 Epidemiological and clinical aspects of lung cancer
- Chapter 25 Lung cancer staging
- Chapter 26 Immunohistochemistry in the diagnosis of pulmonary tumors
- Chapter 27 Adenocarcinoma of the lung
- Chapter 28 Squamous cell carcinoma of the lung
- Chapter 29 Large cell carcinoma and adenosquamous carcinoma of the lung
- Chapter 30 Salivary gland neoplasms of the lung
- Chapter 31 Neuroendocrine tumors and other neuroendocrine proliferations of the lung
- Chapter 32 Sarcomatoid carcinomas and variants
- Chapter 33 Mesenchymal and miscellaneous neoplasms
- Chapter 34 Pulmonary lymphoproliferative diseases
- Chapter 35 Metastases involving the lungs
- Chapter 36 Diseases of the pleura
- Index
- References
Summary
Introduction
The 2004 World Health Organization (WHO) classification of lung tumors defines sarcomatoid carcinomas as a group of poorly differentiated non-small cell lung carcinomas that contain a component of sarcoma or sarcoma-like (spindle and/or giant cells) differentiation. This unifying terminology reflects the similar clinical features of the remarkably different appearing tumors. Five subgroups are recognized, namely pleomorphic carcinoma, spindle cell carcinoma, giant cell carcinoma, carcinosarcoma, and pulmonary blastoma (see Table 1).
Sarcomatoid carcinomas are very rare, comprising no more than 2.1% of all lung cancers. This fact has hindered progress in our understanding of these tumors. However, our knowledge of sarcomatoid carcinomas has gradually increased and, in certain aspects, has greatly progressed in recent years.
The rationale for this categorization lies in the notion that carcinomas can change their morphological, phenotypic and functional features from an epithelial type to a mesenchymal nature by varying degrees, a phenomenon known as epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). A number of studies on these tumors, including ultrastructural, immunohistochemical and molecular analyses, support this theory.6–17 Epithelial-mesenchymal transition is considered not only a pathological condition but as a fundamental phenomenon essential for embryonic development. In a sense, sarcomatoid change may be regarded as a phenomenon in which certain genetic and epigenetic aberrations lead carcinoma cells to recapitulate an early stage of embryonic development, at which time the primitive epithelial layer gives rise to mesenchymal cells.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Spencer's Pathology of the Lung , pp. 1186 - 1223Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2000
References
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