K. Akahoshi et al., METASTATIC LARGE-CELL LUNG-CARCINOMA PRESENTING AS GASTROINTESTINAL HEMORRHAGE, Acta Gastro-Enterologica Belgica, 59(3), 1996, pp. 217-219
A rare case of severe small bowel hemorrhage due to jejunal metastases
from a large-cell type carcinoma of the lung is reported, A 69-yr-old
Japanese woman presented with complaints of mild abdominal pain and l
iquid tarry stools 6 months following surgery for lung carcinoma, Gast
roduodenoscopy and barium enema yielded unremarkable findings, althoug
h a subsequent small bowel enema revealed a large, 15-cm ulcerated mas
s in the jejunum. This tumor was resected and histology confirmed to b
e consistent with a metastasis from the primary undifferentiated large
-cell carcinoma of the lung, The patient had an uneventful postoperati
ve course and survived for 9 months. There have been only two prior ea
se reports of major intestinal hemorrhage secondary to pulmonary carci
noma metastases in the English literature. Previous reports of such me
tastases of the small bowel have documented a very poor-prognosis and
our patient demonstrated the longest survival period to date, The clin
ical course of this patient suggests that the early diagnosis and pall
iative surgery for this complication provide a more favourable outcome
.