Abstract
Three cases of small cell carcinoma of the lung which had undergone combined treatment with radiotherapy and chemotherapy were readmitted to this hospital with increasing, severe, but not localized pain in the lumbar region within 2, 3 and 18 months of completion of treatment. The roentgenograms of the lumbar supine and 99mTcphosphate bone scan showed no signs of metastases in all cases. Gallium 67 scan in cases 2 and 3, and computed tomography (CT) in case 3 revealed signs of metastases in the abdomen, but of these studies, CT findings were most useful to detect the presence of metastatic masses in the retroperitoneal spaces. The pain in the lumbar region was referred pain due to the lymph node metastases to the retroperitoneal spaces.
