TY - JOUR T1 - Dyspnoea and a lung mass in a young female 2 weeks after Caesarean delivery JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J SP - 465 LP - 467 DO - 10.1183/09031936.00187210 VL - 38 IS - 2 AU - M. Schwitter AU - P. Potocnik AU - R. von Moos AU - H. Frick AU - M. Furrer AU - R. Cathomas Y1 - 2011/08/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/38/2/465.abstract N2 - To the Editors:A 28-yr-old female presented 2 weeks after an uneventful delivery by Caesarean section with progressive cough, dyspnoea and left-sided chest pain. Medical history was uneventful but she had smoked until her pregnancy (16 pack-yrs). On admission, conventional chest radiography revealed a large pulmonary mass in the left lung (fig. 1a). A computed tomography (CT) scan showed a large, slightly inhomogeneous mass in the upper lobe of the left lung (fig. 1b). Apart from a 17-mm lesion in the left pulmonary vein, no other metastases were found. CT-guided true-cut biopsy was not diagnostic, and so a thoracotomy was performed. In the frozen section, a malignant process was diagnosed, and the surgeon proceeded to a left upper lobectomy and mediastinal lymphadenectomy.Figure 1– a) Chest radiography and b) computed tomography images of the patient on admission. c–e) Haemotoxylin and eosin stained sections of the biphasic neoplasm composed of c) epithelial glandular tubular structures (thick arrows) and a sarcomatous mesenchymal stroma (thin arrows) (1), 50× magnification. d) the epithelial elements resemble fetal lung (1) 100× magnification and e) the undifferentiated stroma is formed of loosely arranged polygonal cells (short arrow) and more spindle-shaped cells forming bands and nodules (long arrow) (100× magnification. The histological workup of the mostly necrotic and partly cystic well-demarcated mass showed a biphasic pattern composed of branching glandular structures and cords resembling fetal lung, set in an undifferentiated stroma with polygonal and spindled cells (fig. 1c–e). The mesenchymal cells tended to be more closely … ER -