Lung Cancer Presenting With Tongue and Gastrointestinal Metastases

What happened, in summary

A 45-year-old man who smoked sought care after 2 months of black stools, indigestion, weight loss and worsening anemia. He was fatigued and short of breath with exertion and needed blood transfusions. He also had a hard swelling on the left side of his tongue that made speaking and eating difficult and caused hoarseness. The initial concern was a gastrointestinal or pancreatic cancer together with a separate tongue cancer. Biopsies from the abnormal sites instead showed findings consistent with a lung primary, and imaging confirmed disseminated metastatic lung cancer. The case described adenocarcinoma with spread to several unusual sites, including the tongue, duodenum and pancreas, as well as liver, adrenal and kidney involvement. Because the disease was widely metastatic, he began palliative doublet chemotherapy with carboplatin and pemetrexed. After 2 cycles, the cancer progressed and his overall performance status worsened. Chemotherapy was then stopped. Supportive care continued, including blood transfusions and oral treatment for anemia. His presentation was driven mainly by symptoms from the metastatic sites rather than by symptoms from the lung itself. Gastrointestinal bleeding and the tongue lesion were therefore central to how the cancer was discovered.