Methods: Five cases (4 females, 1 male; mean age 61.8 years; range 50 to 72 years) of carcinoid tumors presenting epithelial tumors of the lung were enrolled in the study. Coughing was the predominant symptom in all cases. Intraoperative lymph node dissection or lobe-specific lymph node dissection were performed in all cases. The mean duration of follow-up was 30 months (range, 14 to 72 months).

Results: Anatomic resections were performed in all cases. In four cases with carcinoid tumors, three carcinomas were found incidentally including one of them detected during bronchoscopy. The fifth case had an adenocarcinoma in whom the carcinoid tumor was detected incidentally during bronchoscopy. The case with an adenocarcinoma was also found to have a second carcinoma during follow-up. All carcinoid tumors were typical pathologically with a size ranging between 4 and 12 mm and stages of non-small cell lung cancer were T1aN0 in two cases and T2aN0 in three cases. At present, all cases are alive and symptomfree with a follow-up 14 to 72 months (mean 30 months).

Conclusion: Carcinoid tumors of the lung are low-grade malignancies and may present with a synchronous tumor, which could be either another carcinoid tumor or a carcinoma. Both combinations are quite rare and may complicate surgery sometimes. A thorough bronchoscopic examination and pathologic examination, either preoperatively or postoperatively, is essential in thoracic surgery.