Your new experience awaits. Try the new design now and help us make it even better

CASE REPORT article

Front. Oncol.

Sec. Thoracic Oncology

CASE REPORT: MUCOEPIDERMOID CARCINOMA OF THE LUNG, A CHALLENGING DIAGNOSIS OF AN UNUSUAL CASE

Provisionally accepted
María C. Garijo MartínezMaría C. Garijo Martínez1,2*Alejandro Olivares HernándezAlejandro Olivares Hernández1,2,3*Lorena Bellido HernándezLorena Bellido Hernández1,2,3Fernando L BegliardoFernando L Begliardo4Daniel Morchón AraujoDaniel Morchón Araujo1,2Jonnathan Roldán RuizJonnathan Roldán Ruiz1,2Juan Carlos Redondo-GonzálezJuan Carlos Redondo-González1,2Luis Posado DomínguezLuis Posado Domínguez1,2Emilio Fonseca SánchezEmilio Fonseca Sánchez1,2,3EDEL DEL BARCO MORILLOEDEL DEL BARCO MORILLO1,2,3
  • 1Department of Medical Oncology, University Hospital of Salamanca (CAUSA), Salamanca, Spain
  • 2Biomedical Research Institute of Salamanca (IBSAL), Salamanca, Spain
  • 3Faculty of Medicine, University of Salamanca (USAL), Salamanca, Spain
  • 4Department of Radiology, University Hospital of Salamanca (CAUSA), Salamanca, Spain

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Select one of your emails

You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:

Notify me on publication

Please enter your email address:

If you already have an account, please login

You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here

Background: Lung cancer comprises several types of tumors, with the most common subtypes being adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma. Mucoepidermoid carcinoma of the lung is an extremely rare entity, whose diagnosis and treatment are challenging. Case presentation: We reported a 55-year-old woman who was diagnosed in the context of a respiratory disease with a mucoepidermoid carcinoma of the lung. The diagnosis was not easy due to the difficulty in obtaining a correct tissue sample to study. After discussing the case in a multidisciplinary tumor board, the patient underwent surgery with the exceptional diagnosis of a low-grade mucoepidermoid carcinoma of the lung. Since then, the patient has been on follow-up, with no evidence of disease. Conclusions: There are some subtypes of lung cancer with very different behaviour from the classical ones. For example, mucoepidermoid carcinomas of the lung have an exceptional survival with surgery, without needing further treatment, when they are classified as low-grade. This case report underscores the importance of an appropriate diagnosis based on the work of multidisciplinary tumour boards, even when there are difficulties in obtaining a tissue sample, to offer to the patients the best opportunities.

Keywords: lung cancer, Mucoepidermoid carcinoma, Salivary Glands, Rare neoplasm, Low-grade

Received: 11 May 2025; Accepted: 03 Nov 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Garijo Martínez, Olivares Hernández, Bellido Hernández, Begliardo, Araujo, Ruiz, Redondo-González, Posado Domínguez, Fonseca Sánchez and DEL BARCO MORILLO. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence:
María C. Garijo Martínez, mcgarijo@saludcastillayleon.es
Alejandro Olivares Hernández, aolivares@saludcastillayleon.es

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Supplementary Material