[Rare malignant tumors of the lungs (44 cases)]

Since 1963 in the All-Union Research Institute of Clinical and Experimental Surgery 1445 patients with malignant lung tumors were operated upon, in 44 patients (3%) rare tumors were observed. The source of the rare tumors origination was: epithelium--in 14 cases, connective tissue--in 3, vessels--in 10, smooth muscle--in 3, nervous tissue--in 2, hemopoietic tissue--in 6, pleura--in 4. In one observation the tumor showed a mixed genesis, and in one case it exhibited a dysembryogenetic character. Rare malignant lung tumors (especially sarcomas, plasmocytomas, mesotheliomas) show a definite specificity of clinico-roentgenological manifestations, that should be taken into accout in establishing the differential diagnosis. The ultimate diagnosis was most frequently put after histological assay of the removed neoplasm. A total of 46 operations were performed (two patients were repeatedly operated upon). An extent of surgical interventions in rare malignant tumors is determined by the size, type of the tumor growth and its localization, and it is largely identical to that in lung cancer.