An Atypical Presentation of Small Bowel Metastasis From a Previously Undiagnosed Primary Lung Adenocarcinoma

Abstract

Lung adenocarcinoma commonly metastasizes to the liver, brain, bones and adrenal glands, with metastasis to the small bowel in only 0.5-2% of cases.Not only did our patient have metastases to the small bowel, but the patient presented solely with gastrointestinal symptoms and no evidence of lung disease clinically or on imaging. Immunohistochemical analysis helped diagnose a primary lung adenocarcinoma with metastasis to the small bowel. There are few reported cases of small bowel metastases leading to the diagnosis of a primary lung cancer, let alone, in living patients. Though uncommon, physicians should not dismiss the possibility of vague gastrointestinal symptoms as a manifestation of metastases from a primary lung cancer.




J Med Cases. 2014;5(9):511-514
doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.14740/jmc1874w