Successful treatment of adrenal metastases from large-cell carcinoma of the lung

Abstract

Although on a weight basis the adrenal gland is the most common site of extranodal spread from lung cancer, antemortem diagnosis and successful therapy of adrenal metastasis are rare. We have treated two patients with apparently solitary metastases in the adrenal gland from large-cell carcinomas of the lung using a combination of adrenalectomy and vigorous therapy to the primary site. Both patients experienced symptomatic relief, and, in contrast to the expected short survival in lung cancer with distant metastasis, they remain well six years and 14 years after treatment.