Isolated Splenic Metastasis of Primary Lung Cancer Presented as Metachronous Oligometastatic Disease—A Case Report

Abstract

Modern oncology practice and new antitumor drugs prolonged disease-free intervals in patients with lung cancer. Patients with distant metastatic disease are treated only with palliative intent. The International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer, in the 8th edition of the TNM classification, for the first time includes oligometastatic disease as a clinical state that describes the patients with distant metastasis, limited in number and organ sites, who may have more indolent biology. In this paper, we present a case of a 56-year-old man who was admitted to our clinic regarding a radiologically diagnosed splenic lesion of uncertain nature, and who underwent a left upper lobectomy for primary lung cancer 12 years before. After a detailed radiological diagnosis, it was concluded that it is highly suspected metastatic lesion of the spleen and the patient underwent a splenectomy. While no definitive protocols exist on the management of isolated splenic metastasis from lung cancer, splenectomy, in suitable patients, with reasonable survival expectations, improves patient disease-free survival and can prevent potentially life-threatening complications, such as splenic rupture. 18F-FDG PET has very high sensitivity and specificity for differentiating benign and malignant splenic lesions especially in patients who are in the follow up protocol due to primary malignancy.

Keywords

• isolated splenic metastasis
• lung cancer
• oligometastatic disease