Trisomy 8 is a characteristic finding in pleuropulmonary blastoma

The cytogenetic findings in pleuropulmonary blastoma (PPB) have not been widely studied and reported and are of interest in view of the implications that PPB has for additional tumors in the patient and the patient's relatives. Using standard tumor cytogenetic methodology, we investigated three cases of PPB encountered in our institution over a 5-year period. Trisomy 8 was the only karyotypic abnormality in a localized type 2 PPB and was present with other abnormalities in another type 2 PPB and a massive type 3 PPB. Review of the literature yielded three additional karyotyped PPBs; all had trisomy 8 as part of the abnormalities detected. Trisomy 8 appears to be a characteristic of PPB and may be related to the development of PPB and related tumors.