Cavitary pulmonary metastases in transitional cell carcinoma of urinary bladder.

Cavitary Pulmonary Metastases in Transitional Cell Carcinoma of the Urinary Bladder

“…All 4 cases were histologically advanced cancers, with multiple cavitary metastatic lesions, and the lung metastases developed between 8 and 30 months from the diagnosis. All 4 cases showed thick-walled cavities with or without air-fluid levels [4,6,8]. Our 2 cases appeared 16 and 18 months after diagnosis, had thick nodular walls, and the lesions were multiple.…”

“…About 9% of primary lung cancers evolve into cavitary lesions, while the incidence of cavitation in metastatic tumors to the lung is about 4% [5], Squamous cancers account for 69% of these metastatic lesions, mostly from the larynx, nasopharynx, esophagus and cervix [4][5][6][7][8], The remainder are adenocarcinomas, mostly from the rectum, colon and breast. Radiologically, one can find lesions of variable size, single or multiple, and with or without a fluid level.…”

“…The width of the cavity wall has some relation with the origin of the neoplasm, and head and neck can cers tend to produce thin-walled cavities [5,6], TCB spreads to the lung in 20% of cases, with a variety of radiologic patterns. Cavitation is one of the less common ways of presentation of lung involvement by metastases [4,8], The necrosis that leads to the formation of a cavity is the result of an insufficient blood supply of the tumor, or it is caused by the invasion of the vessels by tumoral cells [4. 6], Chemotherapy may also be responsible for the production of cavitary lesions in metastatic sites [8][9][10], These lesions may radiographically evolve into an inter stitial or alveolar pattern [7], In only 4 of the 7 TCB cases from the literature, there was a description of the clinical features.…”

“…The second patient had a survival of 10 months from the first evidence of métastasés and the lesions appeared before any chemotherapy. The dif ferential diagnosis of the X-ray lesions includes a variety of conditions such as Wegener's granulomatosis, rheuma toid necrobiotic nodules, bronchiectasis, congenital cysts, chronic tuberculous lesions, bronchogenic carcinoma, multiple lung abscesses, bacterial and parasitic infections and fungal infection by Aspergillus [5,6,8], Nevertheless, the development of cavitary lesions in a patient with TCB should raise the suspicion of metastatic disease. This seems to be an unusual complication of TCB.…”

“…1991 plasms. 2 squamous cancers and in 3 cases the histology was not mentioned [4][5][6][7][8], We are reporting the features of 2 new cases of TCB.…”