Background: Metastatic involvement of the pancreas is nor an uncommon
autopsy finding, however, pancreatic metastasis is an infrequent clini
cal condition and the pattern of the metastasis have not been studied
We conducted a retrospective study in order to evaluate the pattern of
the metastasis from lung cancer. Patients: From 1976 to 1997, 26 pati
ents with pancreatic metastasis were identified by searching the medic
al records of 850 patients with lung cancer: Results: The usual patter
n of pancreatic metastasis involved a solitary nodule in 19 patients (
73.1%); multiple nodules in 3(11.5%), and diffuse swelling in 4(15.4%)
. Nineteen(73.1%) and 18(69.2%) of 26 patients had liver and adrenal g
land metastases, respectively. Conclusions: Pancreatic metastasis repr
esents a common site of extrathoracic spread of disease for the small
number of patients with advanced lung cancer, especially in small cell
lung cancer. The usual pattern of the metastasis is a solitary nodule
. In order to diagnose exactly, abdominal CT scan would be helpful in
such metastasis.