Distribution and prognosis of uncommon metastases from non-small cell lung cancer

• Published in: BMC cancer Vol. 16; no. 1; p. 149
• Main Authors: Niu, Fei-Yu, Zhou, Qing, Yang, Jin-Ji, Zhong, Wen-Zhao, Chen, Zhi-Hong, Deng, Wei, He, Yan-Yan, Chen, Hua-Jun, Zeng, Zhu, Ke, E-E, Zhao, Ning, Zhang, Na, Sun, Hui-Wen, Zhang, Qiu-Yi, Xie, Zhi, Zhang, Xu-Chao, Wu, Yi-Long
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London BioMed Central 24.02.2016; BioMed Central Ltd
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Analysis; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Cancer Research; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung - pathology; Care and treatment; Female; Health Promotion and Disease Prevention; Humans; Lung cancer; Lung cancer, Non-small cell; Lung Neoplasms - pathology; Male; Medical and radiation oncology; Medical imaging equipment; Medicine/Public Health; Metastasis; Middle Aged; Neoplasm Metastasis - pathology; Oncology; Prognosis; Proportional Hazards Models; Research Article; Surgical Oncology; Survival Rate; Young Adult; Prognosis; NSCLC; Uncommon metastases; Local treatment
• ISSN: 1471-2407; 1471-2407
• DOI: 10.1186/s12885-016-2169-5

Background According to the literature and our experience, the most common sites of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) metastases include the brain, bone, liver, adrenal glands, contralateral lung and distant lymph nodes. Metastases to other organs are relatively rare. There have been numerous case reports and a few small case series of uncommon metastases derived from NSCLC. Methods We defined all organs except the common metastatic sites mentioned above as uncommon sites of metastasis. Patients with uncommon metastases among 2,872 consecutive NSCLC patients with stage IV disease at the Guangdong Lung Cancer Institute (GLCI) from 2006 to 2012 were included in this study. The diagnosis of uncommon metastases was based on pathology or imaging studies. Results Uncommon metastases were diagnosed in 193 cases at anatomical sites such as the soft tissue, kidney, pancreas, spleen, peritoneum, intestine, bone marrow, eye, ovary, thyroid, heart, breast, tonsil and nasal cavity. Uncommon metastases were identified as independent poor prognostic factors through a multivariate analysis with a HR (hazard ratio) of 1.29 [95 % confidence interval (CI) 1.09–1.52, P <  0.01]. Those patients who received systemic therapy plus local treatment had a better survival rate than did those who received systemic therapy only ( P  < 0.01); all patients received best supportive care. Conclusions Metastases to the above mentioned sites are infrequent. The presentation of uncommon metastases tends to indicate a poor outcome, and selected patients may benefit from local treatment.