[Bronchioloalveolar carcinoma]

We studied 14 patients with bronchioalveolar carcinoma during the last 14 years. In all cases we evaluated the clinical history, the radiologic presentation, and the diagnostic procedures. The mean age of presentation of the illness was 58.5 years. The incidence of smokers was 35%. The time interval from clinical manifestations to diagnosis was 3,3 months. The most frequent symptoms were cough (57%) and dyspnea (43%). The 21% of the cases were asymptomatic. Two patients (14%) had copious amounts of sputum (bronchorrhea). The most revealing radiologic pattern was of alveolar type (43%), followed by multiple pulmonary nodules (29%) and solitary pulmonary nodule pattern (21%). The diagnosis was based in specimen obtained from transbronchial biopsy, bronchoalveolar lavage, transthoracic aspiration biopsy, thoracotomy, or during the necropsy study. Transbronchial biopsy was a sensitive diagnostic method. The 64% of patients were in a extent disease when the diagnosis was established.