A Rare Cause of Acute Abdomen: Small Intestine Perforation Due to Metastasis of Lung Cancer

Abstract

Approximately 50% of lung cancer patients have distant metastases at diagnosis. Intestinal metastasis of lung cancer is quite rare and mostly asymptomatic as well. A 65-yearold male patient had been referred to a peripheral hospital with the complaint of abdominal pain. A mass lesion located on the apex of the right lung had been detected; as well as brain and abdominal metastases had been documented and oncotherapy had been planned accordingly. Several days later, he was referred to emergency surgery department due to the symptoms of acute abdomen. Tests showed hollow organ perforation, and the patient underwent operation later on. Perforation secondary to metastatic small intestine implant was observed per-operatively and so, small bowel resection was performed accordingly. The pathology revealed metastatic adenocarcinoma of lung cancer. The prognosis of lung cancer patients having bowel metastasis is poor with a low rate of survival. In this study, we aimed to present a case of metastatic lung cancer patient who had Acute Abdomen syndrome due to perforation secondary to small bowel metastasis.

Keywords

• acute abdomen
• intestinal perforation
• metastatic lung cancer