Metastatic uterine cervical cancer originating in the lung: a case report

Abstract

We report a case of primary pulmonary adenocarcinoma which metastasized to the uterine cervix. A 69-year-old postmenopausal Japanese female was admitted to our hospital because of general fatigue and atypical genital bleeding. Four years before, she had undergone video-assisted thoracoscopic right upper lobectomy, for primary lung cancer (adenocarcinoma), stage IIIb, pT3N1M0. Gynecologic investigation showed a cauliflower-like tumor in the uterine cervix and parametrial invasion towards the bilateral pelvic wall. Metastasis of extragenital carcinoma to the cervix uteri is rare. Most such reported cases originated in the breast and gastrointestinal tract. In this case, cervical biopsy specimens were revealed to be adenocarcinomatous, similar in pathological features to the previously resected lung cancer. Immunohistochemical staining was positive for thyroid transcription factor-1 and pulmonary surfactant apoprotein A and negative for CA125 and thyroglobulin. Although rare, the respiratory tract should be considered as a possible primary site of uterine cervical metastatic carcinoma.