Atelectasis in pediatrics: a case of carcinoid tumor

Carcinoid pulmonary tumors occur in the fourth to sixth decades of life. Usually, typical carcinoid arise a decade earlier when compared to atypical carcinoid (45 years and 55 years, respectively). Typical carcinoid tumors are the most common primary lung neoplasm in children and late adolescents, but there are less than 40 cases described in the literature. The clinical presentation is nonspecific and usually the symptoms are due to bronchial obstruction, sometimes with recurrent pneumonia. Its rarity may delay diagnosis but in most cases a favorable course after treatment is observed. The authors describe the case of a 13-year-old girl diagnosed with a carcinoid tumor located on the intermediate bronchus. The treatment approach included endoscopic laser resection, for obstruction resolution, followed by a right inferior bilobectomy with mediastinal lymph node dissection as definitive treatment. Histopathology confirmed a typical carcinoid tumor with mediastinal ipsilateral lymph node involvement.