RT Book, Section
A1 Weldon, Christopher B.
A1 Shamberger, Robert C.
A2 Sugarbaker, David J.
A2 Bueno, Raphael
A2 Colson, Yolonda L.
A2 Jaklitsch, Michael T.
A2 Krasna, Mark J.
A2 Mentzer, Steven J.
A2 Williams, Marcia
A2 Adams, Ann
SR Print(0)
ID 1105843771
T1 Pediatric Primary and Secondary Lung Tumors
T2 Adult Chest Surgery, 2e
YR 2015
FD 2015
PB McGraw-Hill Education
PP New York, NY
SN 978-0-07-178189-3
LK accesssurgery.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1105843771
RD 2024/04/20
AB Pediatric  pulmonary  tumors  are  extremely  uncommon  entities  without  a  unifying  presenting  symptomatology,  clear  diagnostic  strategy,  or  definitive  therapeutic  regimens.  Patients  may  present  with  all  manner  of  symptoms  or  complaints,  and  these  concerns  are  almost  always  nonspecific.  Secondary  to  their  rarity  and  the  heterogeneous  nature  of  the  presenting  findings,  tumors  are  seldom  thought  of  as  the  causative  factor  for  a  child  presenting  to  a  primary  care  provider  with  respiratory  complaints,  especially  in  light  of  the  prevalence  of  other,  far  more  common  diseases  in  young  patients  such  as  reactive  airway  disease,  upper  and  lower  respiratory  infections,  or  even  inhaled/ingested  aerodigestive  foreign  bodies.  The  published  data  document  that  the  proportion  of  benign  lesions  to  metastatic  lesions  to  primary  malignancies  is  on  the  order  of  60:5:1.1,2  As  such,  the  most  critical  factor  in  diagnosing  these  lesions  is  a  high  index  of  suspicion,  especially  if  symptoms  do  not  abate  with  the  intended  treatment  strategies  directed  at  the  suspected  underlying  causative  agent  (i.e.,  asthma  that  is  refractory  to  standard  therapies  or  the  respiratory  infection  that  fails  to  resolve  in  a  timely  fashion  with  appropriate  antimicrobial  drugs).  There  is  often  a  significant  delay  then,  from  the  initial  presentation  to  a  healthcare  provider  and  definitive  histopathologic  diagnosis.  Staging,  treatment  strategies,  and  outcomes  will  be  tumor-specific,  but  surgery  generally  plays  a  critical  role  if  cure  is  to  be  achieved  in  all  lesions.