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Computed tomography characteristics of primary pulmonary lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma

¹ Division of Pulmonary Medicine and Intensive Care Medicine, ² Department of Radiology, ³ Department of Pathology and Laboratory Service, ⁴ Division of Hematology and Medical Oncology and ⁵ Department of Research, Koo Foundation Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center, Taipei, Taiwan, ⁶ Department of Thoracic Medicine, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan

Correspondence: Dr Chung-Jen Huang, Division of Pulmonary Medicine and Intensive Care Medicine, Koo Foundation Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center, 125 Lih Der Road, Pei-Tou District, Taipei 11259, Taiwan, Republic of China. E-mail: huang600517{at}yahoo.com

Primary pulmonary lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma is a very rare subtype of lung cancer. This report documents the CT features of 16 Chinese patients diagnosed with primary pulmonary lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma from January 1999 to December 2005. A pre-treatment CT was used to assess the tumour site, size, borders, pleural and vascular involvement, and the presence of lymph node involvement. The majority of the patients were female non-smokers with centrally located tumours. Lymph node involvement and bronchial and vascular encasement were frequent. In an Epstein–Barr virus endemic area, primary pulmonary lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma is an important differential diagnosis to consider.