[Bronchial mucoepidermoid carcinoma in childhood. Case report]

Bronchial tumors are rare in children. Most of them are malignant, being the carcinoid tumor the most common. Less frequently the mucoepidermoid carcinoma is found in the tracheobronchial tree. Mucoepidermoid carcinoma accounts for 0.1 to 0.2% of all malignant bronchopulmonary tumors. It manifests with symptoms of airway obstruction and/or recurrent pneumonias. Early diagnosis and appropriate treatment are of great importance in the prognosis. Bronchoscopy with biopsy of the endobronchial mass is the method of choice to confirm the diagnosis. Treatment consists of surgical resection of the lesion. We present an 11-year-old girl with dyspnea on exertion and cough due to a low malignant mucoepidermoid arcinoma of the ronchi. We describe the clinical manifestations, the diagnostic methods and the treatment of this rare neoplasia in pediatrics.