Hypercalcemia and Extensive Chest Metastasis of Vulvar Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Abstract

A 73-year-old woman with a diagnosis of vulvar carcinoma submitted to curative surgery 5 years previously, presented to the emergency department with prostration and vulvar haemorrhage. Although the gynaecological examination was unremarkable, she had a mass in the left chest wall and hypercalcemia. A CT scan of the thorax revealed a voluminous left hemithorax mass invading the mediastinum, lung, pleura and chest wall. Ultrasound-guided biopsy of the mass showed infiltration by a well-differentiated keratinizing squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). This case report describes an extremely rare metastatic pattern in vulvar SCC concomitant with paraneoplastic hypercalcemia.

Keywords

• Squamous cell carcinoma of the vulva
• paraneoplastic hypercalcemia
• pulmonary metastasis of vulvar squamous cell carcinoma