Preoperative diagnosis of clear cell “sugar” tumor of the lung by computed tomography–guided fine-needle biopsy and core-needle biopsy

Abstract 

Clear cell “sugar” tumor (CCST) of the lung is a very rare benign neoplasm believed to arise from epithelioid cells of perivascular differentiation. This tumor is typically diagnosed by thoracotomy. To our knowledge, only 2 case reports of CCST have been previously published: one case in which cytologic findings were subsequently confirmed histologically and ultrastructurally to be CCST, and one case of CCST diagnosed preoperatively by transbronchial core-needle biopsy. We here depict an additional case of CCST of the lung that was preoperatively diagnosed by computed tomography–guided transthoracic fine-needle aspiration biopsy and core-needle biopsy. We underscore the importance of cytologic and histologic correlation and the role of ancillary studies in differentiating this lesion from other primary or metastatic clear cell tumors of the lung.

Keywords: Lung neoplasm, Clear cell “sugar” tumor, Fine-needle aspiration, Computed tomography–guided core-needle biopsy