Mucoepidermoid carcinoma is an uncommon neoplasm of the tracheobronchial tree, of unknown etiology. Its preferred endobronchial location often results in respiratory symptoms such as obstruction of the airways and lung diseases of slow recovery. They usually are slow growing tumors although they may present an aggressive behavior with local invasion and lymph node metastases depending on their histopathologic characteristics. The mainstay therapy is complete surgical resection either by means of lobectomy or by lung sparing procedures such as bronchotomy and bronchoplasty. Prognosis depends upon the degree of cellular differentiation of the tumors. The authors report a case of this rare neoplasia and describe the clinical and radiographic characteristics, and the surgical treatment.

The synchronous presentation of pulmonary and hepatic nodules in a patient with previously resected bronchogenic carcinoma raises suspicion of recurrence and mandates restaging. We present the case of a 71-year-old male with a history of lobectomy with pericardial resection and mediastinal lymphadenectomy (T3N0M0). At five years after the operation, he presented with a new pulmonary lesion. Restaging detected a synchronous nodule in the liver. Despite the strong suspicion of tumor recurrence, further investigation with a percutaneous liver biopsy revealed hepatocellular carcinoma. In order to investigate the etiology of the pulmonary lesion (hypotheses of recurrent bronchial cancer and of metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma), an open lung biopsy was performed, which revealed chronic inflammatory tissue with foci of anthracosis and dystrophic calcification. The patient was submitted to a non-anatomic resection of the liver lesion. The postoperative course was uneventful, and the patient was discharged on postoperative day 10. This report highlights the relevance of the histopathological diagnosis in patients with a history of bronchogenic carcinoma and suspicion of tumor recurrence. Differential diagnoses and the treatment administered are discussed.

Keywords: Carcinoma, bronchogenic; Neoplasm metastasis; Carcinoma, hepatocellular.

Objective: To evaluate post-operative complications in living lobar lung transplant donors. Methods: Between September of 1999 and May of 2005, lobectomies were performed in 32 healthy lung transplant donors for 16 recipients. The medical charts of these donors were retrospectively analyzed in order to determine the incidence of post-operative complications and alterations in pulmonary function after lobectomy. Results: Twenty-two donors (68.75%) presented no complications. Among the 10 donors presenting complications, the most frequently observed complication was pleural effusion, which occurred in 5 donors (15.6% of the sample). Red blood cell transfusion was necessary in 3 donors (9.3%), and 2 donors underwent a second surgical procedure due to hemothorax. One donor presented pneumothorax after chest tube removal, and one developed respiratory infection. There were two intra-operative complications (6.25%): one donor required bronchoplasty of the middle lobe; and another required lingular resection. No intra-operative mortality was observed. Post-operative pulmonary function tests demonstrated an average reduction of 20% in forced expiratory volume in one second (p < 000.1) compared to pre-operative values. Conclusions: Lobectomy in living lung transplant donors presents high risk of post-operative complications and irreversible impairment of pulmonary function. Careful pre-operative evaluation is necessary in order to reduce the incidence of complications in living lobar lung transplant donors.

Keywords: Lung transplantation; Living donors; Pneumonectomy; Postoperative complications.