Primary tracheobronchial mucoepidermoid carcinoma - a retrospective study of 32 patients

BACKGROUND: This retrospective study was designed to investigate the clinical characteristics, diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of primary tracheobronchial mucoepidermoid carcinoma (MEC). METHODS: Clinical data were retrospectively analyzed from 32 patients with pathologically confirmed primary tracheobronchial MEC between January 1990 and December 2010 at Zhejiang Cancer Hospital. The Kaplan-Meier methods were used to estimate and compare survival rates. RESULTS: There were 19 males and 13 females ranging in age from 7 to 73 years, with a median age of 28 years. Twenty-six of the 32 patients were treated with surgery alone. The other six patients were treated with surgery plus postoperative radiotherapy or chemotherapy. Six patients died during the follow-up time. The overall five-year survival rates were 81.25%, whereas the five-year survival rate of seven patients with high-grade tumors was only 28.6%. Stage I and II patients experienced better survival than Stage III and IV patients (the five-year survival rate was 100% and 43.6% respectively, P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Primary tracheobronchial MEC is a rare disease. Histologic grading and TNM (tumor-node-metastasis)staging are independent prognostic factors. Surgical resection is the primary treatment.