A N INFREQUENT B form of lung cancer characterized microscopically as a tumor in which columnar neoplastic cells resembling bronchial epithelium line alveolar structures. Tumor cells olten possess abundant mucous and basal nuclei while lacking cilia. There is a tendency toward papillary projection and desquamation of malignant cells into mucus-filled alveolar spaces. Tumors are peripherally located and, since lesions are not endobronchial, atelectasis and hemoptysis are rarely present. Some authors are convinced that bronchiolar cancer is often multicentric in origin although such tumors may arise from a single focus.1, 6 There seems to be the same relationship between bronchiolar cancer and scars as reported for lung cancer in general. ', 5 , 113, 16, 18, 23, 24 I n 1953 Storey et al. collected data on 205 cases of bronchiolar cancer and presented 37 cases of their own.20 They gave the proportion of these tumors as 1.5% to 5% of all primary lung cancers, noted the lack ol characteristic symptoms or radiographic appearance and confirmed the diagnostic value of cytologic examination as reported by Watson and Smith.22 Using the data of Storey et al., we calculate their 5-year survival rate as about 5%, certainly no improvement over that of all primary lung cancers.
T h e nomenclature for bronchiolar cancer has undergone a revision. Originally called pulmonary adenomatosis after a disease in sheep (jaagsiekte) and later changed by some authors to alveolar cell carcinoma, this disease more recently has been termed bronchiolar cancer. Liebow lists more than 30 synonyms including papillary mucinous adenocarcinoma.