Introduction: The aim of our study was to describe the main characteristics of bronchioloalveolar carcinoma (BAC) in the light of the latest WHO classification. The clinical, pathological and radiological features of 16 consecutive resected cases of early BAC (stage IA) were reviewed.
Methods: Retrospective pathology of 249 adenocarcinomas over a 32 months period.
Results: Computerised tomography (CT) features which supported a diagnosis of BAC included a peripheral location, irregular margins forming a star pattern, pleural tagging, ground-glass attenuation and an air bronchogram. Immunochemistry was positive in all cases for cytokeratins 7 and 19, EMA and TTF-1, but was only variably positive for ACE, P53 and MIB-1. For 14 out of 16 patients clinical outcome was favourable with no evidence to date of recurrence since surgery. Of the others, one developed extra-thoracic metastases and the other a local recurrence requiring further surgery.
Conclusion: Recognising these characteristics of BAC is important as early diagnosis and treatment of this condition can be associated with an excellent prognosis.