[Chronic diarrhea as a first manifestation of small cell lung cancer. A case report]

Abstract

We report the case of a 57-year-old man presenting with chronic diarrhea for more than three months and a solitary pulmonary nodule of the right upper lobe. After atypical resection, showing a clinical stage I small cell lung cancer (SCLC), a lobectomy combined with a systematic mediastinal lymphadenectomy were performed. The histopathological examination revealed a pT1, pN0, SCLC. Postoperatively, the diarrhea improved for four weeks. The patient developed septic complications after adjuvant chemotherapy and died two months after the diagnosis was established. After exclusion of other causes for chronic diarrhea we suppose that the patient's diarrhea can be considered as an atypical paraneoplastic syndrome of SCLC.