Introduction: Soft tissue metastases from lung carcinoma in the skeletal muscles, subcutaneous tissue and skin are rare. They mostly develop in already diagnosed patients and in very rare cases occur simultaneously or prior the visualization of the primary malignant tumor.
Clinical case: It concerns a 50-year-old woman who smokes and has multiple nodular lesions located in the area of the soft tissues and the subcutaneous tissue of the dorsum, thorax and abdomen. The findings vary in size from a few millimeters to 47 mm. Some of them move at palpation while others are dense, painful and red. Duration of changes: two months prior the visit to the diagnostic center. Computed tomography (CT) of the thorax and abdomen was performed without and after intravenous contrast administration. A large soft tissue formation was found involving the upper anterior mediastinum asymmetrically to the right with infiltration of the large vessels, along with lymph node metastases of neck and mediastinum, metastases in both adrenal glands and diffuse soft tissue subcutaneous and skin metastases. The histological study revealed small-cell lung carcinoma and chemotherapy was administered. The patient passed away four months after starting the treatment.
Conclusion: Subcutaneous nodular metastases reflect an advanced malignant process and are rarely the first manifestation of oncological disease. When they result from small-cell lung cancer, they are indicative of high malignancy and are associated with low survival rate. Read the whole article here.