Abstract
A case of metastasis to the maxillary gingiva from carcinoma of the lung is reported.
A 61-year-old man was referred to our department with a mass of the right maxillary gingiva resembling epulis. The patient initially presented with weakness of the right leg. CT showed a subcortical hemorrhage in the left frontal lobe and a pulmonary nodule in the left upper lobe. From these findings, we suspected metastasis to the brain and gingiva from a malignant tumor of the lung. The nodule was not diagnosed histologically by lung biopsy. Total enucleation of the gingival lesion was performed. Because the tumor cells were strongly positive for TTF-1, a diagnosis of metastasis from adenocarcinoma of the lung was made. With the rapid growth of the gingival tumor after surgery, there was uncontrollable hemorrhage from the tumor. Radiotherapy of 35Gy reduced the size of the tumor, resulting in no bleeding complications. Although he received whole brain radiation and systemic chemotherapy for multiple organ metastasis, he died of pulmonary hemorrhage 95 days after admission to the hospital. He was capable of oral food intake until two days before his death. These findings suggest that palliative radiotherapy for gingival metastasis could provide better quality of life.
