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Vol.58 No.4 contents | Japanese/English |
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- Case Report -
Back Pain Served as a Clue to the Detection of Lung Cancer in a Young Adult
Junichi Morimoto1, Atsushi Sasaki1, Kaoru Nagato1, Isamu Sugano2, Hideki Kimura11Department of Thoracic Surgery, 2Department of Pathology, Chibaken Saiseikai Narashino Hospital, Japan
Background. Lung cancer in patients of ≤ 40 years of age is rare and is often diagnosed based on symptoms. Case. The patient was a 31-year-old man with a 2-year history of occasional right-sided upper back pain. In November 2015, he noticed persistent back pain and visited our hospital. A chest X-ray and computed tomography revealed multiple bilateral lung cysts and a 20-mm nodule adjacent to a cyst in segment 2 of the right lung. A cyst in right segment 2 and parietovisceral adhesion and local pleuritis were suspected as the cause of the back pain. Analgesics were ineffective, and we performed surgery to reduce his back pain and make a nodal diagnosis. The cyst at the right lung apex was strongly adhered to the parietal pleura. After synechiotomy, we observed fibrin deposition and resected the cyst along with the fibrin nodule. The back pain was relieved after surgery. However, the nodule was pathologically diagnosed as invasive mucinous adenocarcinoma. A second right upper lobectomy and lymph node dissection were performed as radical surgery. The pathologic stage was pT2aN1M0 (p-Stage IIB). Conclusion. It is therefore important not to ignore chest abnormalities and to bear in mind the possibility of lung cancer, even in young people, especially when they are heavy smokers.
key words: Young adult lung cancer, Invasive mucinous adenocarcinoma
Received: November 15, 2017
Accepted: May 1, 2018
JJLC 58 (4): 275-280, 2018
