BRONCHIAL MUCOEPIDERMOID CARCINOMAS - 3 C ASES

Background. - Mucoepidermoid carcinomas (MEC) are very rare (less than 20 cases reported in the literature) and potentially malignant bronch ial gland carcinomas. Patients. - Three children, two boys (11 and 7 y ears old) and one girl (5 years old) suffered from respiratory symptom s such as cough, recurrent pneumonia and/or hemoptysis for 2 to 12 mon ths. Bronchial endoscopy showed a mass into the left (two cases), or t he right main bronchus (one case). Chest CT scan identified local exte nsion, and lung-associated lesions. Histopathological study concluded to MEC in the three cases. The patients were treated by segmental bron chial resection, completed with left upper lobectomy (two cases), bron chotomy (one case). All the tumor could be removed; there was no metas tasis. The outcome was uneventful with a 8 to 24 months follow-up. Con clusion. - Bronchial tumors of children must be considered in patients with chronic cough, recurrent pneumonia and/or hemoptysis and require bronchial endoscopy for their diagnosis.