Inflammatory Myofibroblastic Tumor of the Lung: Case Series

Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor is a rare occurrence in general practice. Its biologic nature, natural history and response to different treatment modalities are obscure. We retrospectively reviewed clinical and pathological features of 5 patients with inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor of the lung observed between 1999 and 2006. Under-study patients were 3 women and 2 men with a median age of 32.6 years. All patients were symptomatic. Computed tomography (CT) scan demonstrated a mass in all cases. Four patients underwent surgery (tumor resection in 1, lobectomy in 1, bilobectomy in 1 and lobectomy with mediastinal mass debulking also in 1). Complete resection was achieved in 2 patients who are currently alive with no evidence of disease. One died due to progressive disease. Another is alive with disease after incomplete resection, and one refused any kind of surgery. There was no operative mortality. All patients were under follow-up (range, 5 to 60 months; median 39 months). This study illustrates that some inflammatory myofibroblastic tumors behave aggressively and have a poor prognosis. It also confirms that radical resection is the treatment of choice for this malignancy.