A Rare Cause of Small Bowel Transection: Metastatic Lung Cancer

Abstract

Objective: To present a case of small bowel perforation due to metastatic lung cancer. Case Presentation and Intervention: A 78-year-old male patient, who had been diagnosed with lung cancer 3 months earlier, presented to our clinic with acute abdominal pain. He underwent emergency laparotomy. At surgery, there was a circumferential lesion encompassing the ileum with complete transection. There was no obvious macroscopic appearance of metastatic disease. The involved bowel segment was resected and an ileostomy was performed. Postoperative pathologic analysis confirmed metastatic squamous cell carcinoma metastasis to the ileum, arising from the patient’s lung cancer. Conclusion: This case report showed that small bowel metastases should always be considered in the differential diagnosis of lung cancer patients presenting with acute abdominal pain.

Small bowel perforation with multiple intestinal metastases from lung carcinoma: A case report

“…Notably, following successful resection of such lesions and despite the presence of additional metastatic lesions besides the intestinal tract, survival for >1 year has been reported. However, in the vast majority of these patients, survival outcomes are poor (24).…”

Acute small bowel obstruction: a rare initial presentation for the metastasis of the large-cell carcinoma of the lung

“…Most patients with small bowel metastases have no specific symptoms such as anorexia, abdominal pain, distention and diarrhea. With the progression of disease, life threatening symptoms do present, such as small bowel obstruction, perforation or even bleeding[7-10]. Hillenbrand reviewed the literature from 1967 to 2003 and found 58 documented cases with metastasis to the small bowel of primary lung cancer.…”