Read in | English | Español | Français | Deutsch | Português | Italiano | 日本語 | 한국어 | 简体中文 | 繁體中文 | العربية | Dansk | Nederlands | Filipino | Finnish | Ελληνικά | עִבְרִית | हिन्दी | Bahasa | Norsk | Русский | Svenska | Magyar | Polski | Română | Türkçe

Types of Lung Carcinoma

Types of lung carcinoma

  • Adenocarcinoma is a malignant tumor originating in the epithelial cells of glandular tissue and forming glandular structures. This is common in the lung (forming 30-40% of all lung carcinomas). It is found peripherally, arising from goblet cells or type II pneumocytes.
  • Squamous cell carcinoma due to squamous metaplasia. This accounts for 20-30 percent of lung tumors and is usually hilar in origin.
  • Small cell carcinoma is almost certainly due to smoking. These metastasise early, and may secrete ADH (lowering patient sodium concentration).
  • Large cell undifferentiated carcinomas account for 10-15 percent of lung neoplasms. These are aggressive and difficult to recognise due to the undifferentiated nature. These are most commonly central in the lung.

Further Reading


This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article on "Carcinoma" All material adapted used from Wikipedia is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Wikipedia® itself is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.