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Detection of ALK rearrangement in an octogenarian patient with pleomorphic carcinoma of the lung

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Abstract

We herein present a rare case of ALK-positive pulmonary pleomorphic carcinoma in an octogenarian patient. A computed tomography scan of the thorax indicated a pulmonary nodule in the right upper lobe of an asymptomatic 87-year-old female. The surgical resection revealed that the disease was pleomorphic carcinoma with pathological T2aN0M0, stage IB. EML4-ALK was evaluated using immunohistochemistry and fluorescence in situ hybridization, and EGFR mutations were analyzed using the Cycleave method. While there were no EGFR mutations detected, she was positive for the ALK rearrangement. This is the first report of ALK rearrangement in an octogenarian patient with pleomorphic carcinoma of the lung.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. Brian Quinn for critical comments on the manuscript.

Conflict of interest

All authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Thoracic Surgery, Omuta Tenryo Hospital, 1-100 Tenryo-machi, Omuta, 836-8566, Japan

    Riichiroh Maruyama

  2. Department of Surgery, Omuta Tenryo Hospital, Omuta, Japan

    Fujio Matsumura & Yuji Shibata

  3. Department of Respiratory Medicine, Omuta Tenryo Hospital, Omuta, Japan

    Hiroshi Takahashi, Hiroko Okabayashi, Sachiyo Kosai, Izumi Honda & Mineharu Sugimoto

  4. Department of Pathology, Arao Municipal Hospital, Arao, Japan

    Susumu Ohkawara

Authors
  1. Riichiroh Maruyama
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  2. Fujio Matsumura
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  3. Yuji Shibata
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  4. Hiroshi Takahashi
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  5. Hiroko Okabayashi
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  6. Sachiyo Kosai
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  7. Izumi Honda
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  8. Susumu Ohkawara
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  9. Mineharu Sugimoto
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Correspondence to Riichiroh Maruyama.

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Maruyama, R., Matsumura, F., Shibata, Y. et al. Detection of ALK rearrangement in an octogenarian patient with pleomorphic carcinoma of the lung. Gen Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 64, 167–169 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11748-014-0428-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11748-014-0428-4

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