2017 Volume 31 Issue 6 Pages 758-762
We report an 80-year-old woman who underwent pulmonary resection for metastasis of an intraductal papillary mucinous carcinoma (IPMC) of the pancreas. The patient had undergone pylorus-preserving pancreaticoduodenectomy prior to pulmonary resection. Based on the pathological specimen, the primary tumor was diagnosed as an invasive IPMC, pT3N0M0, Stage III. A follow-up chest computed tomography scan, 2 years after the operation, showed a solitary pulmonary nodule in the left lower lobe. Thoracoscopic left lower lobectomy and partial resection of the lingula segment were performed for the purposes of diagnosis and treatment. The tumor was diagnosed as a metastatic lung tumor from the IPMC because hematoxylin-eosin staining and the phenotype of the secreted mucopolysaccharide of the lung lesion were similar to those of the primary lesion. Because invasive IPMC generally represents aggressive clinical characteristics, lung metastasis is rarely resected. We performed radical resection of a lung tumor in a case in which it was difficult to distinguish primary lung cancer from metastatic cancer.
