Metastatic involvement of the stomach secondary to lung carcinoma

Abstract

Blood-borne metastatic involvement of the stomach by cancer is a rare entity. According to the number of reports in the literature, the most common tumors that spread to the stomach through the blood stream are malignant melanoma, breast carcinoma and lung carcinoma. Recently, two cases of metastatic involvement of the stomach secondary to lung carcinoma were diagnosed by gastroscopy. The first patient was a 66-year-old man who had primary lung carcinoma with multiple bone and subcutaneous metastases. Gastroscopy showed multiple submucosal tumors with central umbilications in the fundus and in the upper body of the stomach. Pathologic examination revealed massive submucosal infiltration and conical shaped and scanty deep mucosal infiltration of undifferentiated small cell carcinoma suggestive of metastatic involvement. The second patient was a 68-year-old man who had primary lung carcinoma with brain metastasis. Gastroscopy showed a large fungating mass in the greater curvature side of the stomach. Pathologic examination revealed poorly differentiated squamous cell carcinoma. We report the two cases of metastatic gastric cancer from lung carcinoma with the literature review.