Granular cell tumor--a rare, benign respiratory tract neoplasm in the material of the Institute of Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases

The granular cell tumor (GCT) is a nodule that arises most commonly in the skin, the breast or the tongue. The vast majority are benign. Approximately 6-10% of granular cell tumors have been reported in the lower respiratory tract. The clinical, pathological and immunohistochemical findings of eleven cases are described in our material consisted of 6 males and 5 females aged from 35 to 58 years (median, 46 years). The GCT were solitary lesions in all our patients. The tumors were located in trachea (6 cases) and in bronchus (5 cases). They were found during bronchoscopy performed because of symptoms of pneumonia, lung cancer and hemoptysis or dyspnea alone. Diameter of the tumors ranged from 0.2-2.5 cm (median 1.2 cm). Six tumors were surgically excised and 5 were endoscopically removed. Pulmonary GCT behave in a benign fashion. It was observed that tumors of less than 8 mm were more amenable to endoscopic removal and larger tumors were more likely to infiltrate through the bronchial wall. Histologically, the GCT showed submucosal infiltrates of round or oval cells with abundant granular cytoplasm. The tumors cells were positive for S-100 protein, neuron specific enolase, CD68 and vimentin. Our immunohistochemical results are consistent with this concept.