[Upper intestinal endoscopy in 188 bronchial cancer patients and 118 breast cancer patients with abdominal symptoms. The GI Metastases Study Group]

Abstract

With the aim of analysing the pathological findings of upper gastrointestinal endoscopy in patients with bronchial or breast cancer and gastrointestinal symptoms a multicenter study was carried out over one year (1990) by 26 medical departments. One duodenal metastasis was verified among 188 patients with lung cancer. Seven of 118 patients with breast cancer developed symptomatic stenosis of the esophagus. A total of 42.9% of the patients with lung cancer and 38.6% of the patients with breast cancer had pathological findings detected by upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. Most frequent findings were duodenal and gastritic ulcers (lung cancer 15.0%, breast cancer 15.8%), esophagitis (lung cancer 16.3%, breast cancer 8.9%) and symptomatic stenosis of the esophagus (lung cancer 9.5%, breast cancer 7.0%). The authors conclude that there is a high frequency of relevant pathological upper gastrointestinal tract findings in symptomatic patients with breast or lung cancer, but that true metastatic disease is a rare phenomenon with the exception of metastatic involvement of the esophagus.