Large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma of the lung (LCNEC) is a highly
malignant
Malignancy () is the tendency of a medical condition to become progressively worse.
Malignancy is most familiar as a characterization of cancer. A ''malignant'' tumor contrasts with a non-cancerous ''benign'' tumor in that a malignancy is not s ...
neoplasm
A neoplasm () is a type of abnormal and excessive growth of tissue. The process that occurs to form or produce a neoplasm is called neoplasia. The growth of a neoplasm is uncoordinated with that of the normal surrounding tissue, and persists ...
arising from transformed
epithelial cells
Epithelium or epithelial tissue is one of the four basic types of animal tissue, along with connective tissue, muscle tissue and nervous tissue. It is a thin, continuous, protective layer of compactly packed cells with a little intercellula ...
originating in
tissues within the
pulmonary
The lungs are the primary organs of the respiratory system in humans and most other animals, including some snails and a small number of fish. In mammals and most other vertebrates, two lungs are located near the backbone on either side of th ...
tree. It is currently considered to be a subtype of
large cell lung carcinoma
Large-cell carcinoma (LCC, LCLC) is a heterogeneous group of undifferentiated malignant neoplasms that lack the cytologic and architectural features of small cell carcinoma and glandular or squamous differentiation. LCC is categorized as a type of ...
.
LCNEC is often generically grouped among the
non-small cell lung carcinomas.
Variants
The
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of h ...
classification of lung tumors
recognizes a variant of LCNEC, namely "combined large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma" (c-LCNEC).
References
External links
Lung Cancer Home Page The
National Cancer Institute
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) coordinates the United States National Cancer Program and is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is one of eleven agencies that are part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. ...
site containing further reading and resources about lung cancer.
World Health Organization Histological Classification of Lung and Pleural Tumours. 4th Edition.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma of the lung
Lung cancer