Synchronous double primary cancer of the lung and nasal vestibule: A case report and literature review

Mol Clin Oncol. 2016 May;4(5):807-810. doi: 10.3892/mco.2016.799. Epub 2016 Mar 3.

Abstract

Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the nasal vestibule is a rare tumor entity, and its occurrence combined with lung cancer is even rarer. Thus, several patients are often initially misdiagnosed or remain undiagnosed. This is the case report of a 55-year-old male patient who presented to our hospital with a neoplasm in the left lung. The patient was treated with left upper pulmonary lobectomy and the subsequent histopathological examination of the surgical specimen revealed a poorly differentiated SCC. On postoperative week 4, the patient presented with purulent and bloody discharge from the left nostril and was misdiagnosed with an upper jaw cyst. After another 3 weeks, the patient was re-admitted to the hospital with a mass of left nostril and nasal congestion. Tru-Cut biopsies from the nasal area and histopathological examination revealed a moderately differentiated SCC. According to the clinical presentation and the histopathological findings, the patient was diagnosed with double primary cancer of the lung and the nasal vestibule. The mass of the left nostril was significantly reduced in size with radiotherapy. To the best of our knowledge, there is no similar case previously reported in the literature. Due to the rarity of scc of the nasal vestibule concomittant with lung cancer, we herein present this case report with a review of the relevant literature and investigation of the clinical characteristics.

Keywords: double primary cancer; lung cancer; misdiagnosis; nasal vestibule; radiotherapy; squamous cell carcinoma.