Alveolar-cell carcinoma (terminal bronchiolar carcinoma). A study of surgically excised tumors with special emphasis on localized lesions.

The lesion variously described as alveolar-cell carcinoma, bronchiolo-alveolar carcinoma, and terminal bronchiolar carcinoma is a primary pulmonary neoplasm of relatively infrequent occurrence. In an operable case the tumor is typically peripheral. It may involve a small area of pulmonary parenchyma or it may be extensive, involving an entire lobe or all of a lung. In contrast to most bronchogenic carcinomas, this tumor, on gross examination, appears to arise from the pulmonary parenchyma rather than from a major bronchus. The microscopic finding of papillary neoplastic transformation of the lining mucosa of terminal bronchioles, in many cases, suggests an origin from terminal bronchiolar epithelium. The exact definition of alveolar-cell carcinoma and its relationship to ordinary adenocarcinoma of the lung have been a subject of some dispute. Some authors have used the term “terminal bronchiolar carcinoma” to cover a large number of peripheral adenocarcinomas of the lung, including those with much infiltr...