[Pulmonary blastoma and related primary malignant pulmonary neoplasms]

During the last decade more diagnoses of pulmonary blastoma were made worldwide than in previous decades. Whether this increased frequency is caused by better diagnostic procedures (immunochemistry, electron microscopy) or by the growing number of patients having this neoplasm is difficult to distinguish. We present controversies concerning pulmonary blastoma and related biphasic primary pulmonary neoplasms. We agree with Wick et al. that cases in children (called pleuropulmonary blastoma) should be differentiated from cases in adults, which show many similarities to bronchogenic lung cancer. However, our opinion is that the new classification system proposed by Wick et al. does not take into account cases of PB in young adults with intropulmonary growth of the tumor.