Metastatic carcinomas to the head and neck from the thoracoabdominal organs

Abstract

We studied 27 cases of metastatic carcinomas to the head and neck from the thoracoabdominal organs. Primary lesions were from the lung（12 cases）, thoracic esophagus（four cases）, kidney（three cases）, uterine cervix（two cases）, liver（one case）, pancreas（one case）, stomach（one case）, prostate（one case）, thymus（one case）, and pleura（one case）. Female gender was more common in the younger cases, whereas male gender was more common in the older cases, possibly due to differences in the morbidity of the primary lesion. The site of metastasis in the head and neck region of many cases was the inferior cervical region. However, metastasis to the superior cervical region or head and neck organs occurred in several cases, so the clinical detection of thoracoabdominal cancer was thought to be important in cases with cervical node metastasis. The 10 cases diagnosed as untreated neck masses on the first visit to our hospital showed a poor prognosis compared with the 17 cases that had been treated previously. The primary lesion in untreated cases was thought to progress rapidly and metastasize in the early period.