A Case of Synchronous Multiple Lung Cancers Associated with Hamartoma in the Same Lobe

In recent years, reported cases of synchronous or metachronous primary lung cancers have been increasing as a result of the development of new diagnostic and therapeutic procedures for lung cancer. However, synchronous primary lung cancers in the same lobe are still rare. We reported a case of synchronous primary lung cancers associated with hamartoma in the same lobe. A 72-year-old man with nonproductive cough showed two growing nodules in the left lower lobe of the lung on chest x-ray. Bronchoscopic biopsy revealed adenocarcinoma in B10 and carcinoma cells of undetermined histologic type in B6. Thereafter a small third nodule was noticed in S10 which retrospectively had been present on the initial chest x-ray, too. Left lower lobectomy was performed and the pathological diagnosis was synchronous multiple lung cancers (adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma) associated with hamartoma in the same lobe. There was no metastasis to regional lymph nodes or to other organs and the postoperative course has been uneventful. It is important to make a cytologic or pathological diagnosis for each nodule when multiple nodules have been found on chest x-ray. Although some authors have argued the increased risk of associated lung cancers in cases of pulmonary hamartoma, further collection of similar cases is needed to prove this contention.