An unsuspected diagnosis of mucoepidermoid carcinoma of lung

A 40-year-old man with dry cough for 5 years, no history of smoking, and a right lung mass, underwent a radiologically-guided core needle biopsy. The initial histopathological diagnosis was adenocarcinoma of the lung. After lobectomy, the final pathology was mucoepidermoid carcinoma. The initial biopsies sampled only a mucinous component of the tumor, leading to a diagnosis of adenocarcinoma. The possibility of mucoepidermoid carcinoma could be suspected on the basis of clinical history and radiologic evidence. This unusual case highlights the importance of adequate multidisciplinary review of patients who increasingly receive pathologic diagnoses based on ever smaller tissue samples.