An operated case of metastasis to the small intestine from lung cancer

We report a rare case of a 68-year-old man with long-term survival after a surgical treatment of solitary metachronous small intestinal metastasis from lung cancer. He underwent a right upper lobectomy for primary lung adenocarcinoma. Thirty -four months after the operation, a tumor of small bowel was detected by computed tomography. The tumor was resected and diagnosed as a metastasis from lung cancer. Eighteen months after resection of metastasis, a tumor located at mesentery of the jejunum was pointed out. The tumor was resected and also diagnosed as a metastasis from lung cancer. The postoperative course was uneventful, and the patient is still alive without recurrence for 3 years after the last operation. We reviewed of 222 Japanese cases that underwent a resection of small intestinal metastasis from lung cancer. Although the prognosis was extremely poor for those who underwent a resection of the primary lung cancer and who had no remnant metastatic lesion at the time of metastasectomy, they seem to have a longer survival time.