A resected case of CA19-9-producing adenocarcinoma of the lung detected by manifestation of acute inflammation due to pneumonia

Abstract

This paper describes a resected case of CA19-9 producing lung cancer with acute inflammatory change.
A 72-year-old man was admitted to our hospital because of general fatigue and fever. Chest X-ray and CT scan revealed a pneumonia-like shadow in the lower lobe of the right lung and laboratory findings showed an elevated serum CA19-9 level (1, 977 U/ml). Percutaneous needle aspiration cytology was done, and cytologic examination of a specimen of lung tissue revealed adenocarcinoma. There was no evidence of malignancy in the alimentary tract, and so we performed lower lobectomy of the right lung. Postoperative histological examination showed well-differentiated adenocarcinoma of the lung. The presence of CA19-9 was immunohistochemically demonstrated in almost all of the cancer cells. The serum CA19-9 levels were within the normal range 1 month after surgery. This demonstrated that this tumor was a CA19-9 producing lung cancer.
The present case suggests that it is necessary to check CA19-9 in patients with lung cancer as well.