Carcinoma mucoepidermóide

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.