Image in Medicine: Squamous Cell Granulomas in Completely Regressed Stage IIIB Lung Cancer after Chemoradiation Therapy

Abstract

A stage IIIB squamous cell carcinoma of the lung was treated with neoadjuvant chemoradiation therapy before pneumonectomy. The postsurgical specimen showed complete pathologic response with no viable tumor identified. However, extensive squamous cell granulomas were present in the previous tumor bed. Squamous cell granulomas can cause diagnostic difficulty, and have only been previously described in treated head and neck squamous carcinomas in the literature.