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CASE REPORT article

Front. Oncol.
Sec. Pharmacology of Anti-Cancer Drugs
Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fonc.2025.1487334
This article is part of the Research Topic Drug Discovery in Cancer Research: Success Stories and Open Challenges View all 24 articles

Long Term Survival of Advanced Hepatoid Adenocarcinoma of Lung with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis: a case report

Provisionally accepted
Qianqian Zhang Qianqian Zhang 1,2*Xiaoli Wang Xiaoli Wang 1,2Nan Wei Nan Wei 1,2Huizhen Yang Huizhen Yang 1,2Xiaoyan Wang Xiaoyan Wang 1,2Xiaoju Zhang Xiaoju Zhang 1,2
  • 1 Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine,, Henan Provincial People's Hospital, Zhengzhou, China
  • 2 Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Zhengzhou University People's Hospital, Zhengzhou, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP)-producing hepatoid adenocarcinoma of lung (HAL) is a rare type of lung cancer, with its characteristics being not yet fully clarified. We recently encountered a case of HAL combined with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), which has never been reported.A 66-year-old man consulted our hospital with a chief complaint of cough. Chest computed tomography (CT) revealed multiple nodules measuring from 8mm to 20mm in diameter located in bilateral lung, along with an enlarged left hilar lymph node. CT-guided percutaneous lung biopsy confirmed the diagnosis of AFP-producing primary HAL combined with IPF. Systemic treatment according to guidelines for advanced non-small cell lung cancer resulted in a long-term survival.This case report documents the first occurrence and prognosis of AFP-producing HAL in a patient with IPF. The long-term survival brought by the diagnosis and treatment model in our case may provide significant prognostic value for this rare condition.

    Keywords: hepatoid adenocarcinoma, lung cancer, Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis, Alpha-Fetoprotein, Immune checkpoint inhibitor

    Received: 27 Aug 2024; Accepted: 16 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Zhang, Wang, Wei, Yang, Wang and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Qianqian Zhang, Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine,, Henan Provincial People's Hospital, Zhengzhou, China

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