Looking beyond the obvious - Detection of lung primary in disseminated malignancies: A narrative review
Lung cancer is the second most common cancer worldwide; however, atypical presentations may be a diagnostic quagmire. This review calls attention to the myriad, albeit peculiar, and clinical presentations of lung cancer. It emphasizes the role of essential diagnostic immunohistochemistry (IHC) in di...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications
2025-04-01
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| Series: | Cancer Research, Statistics, and Treatment |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journals.lww.com/10.4103/crst.crst_79_24 |
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| Summary: | Lung cancer is the second most common cancer worldwide; however, atypical presentations may be a diagnostic quagmire. This review calls attention to the myriad, albeit peculiar, and clinical presentations of lung cancer. It emphasizes the role of essential diagnostic immunohistochemistry (IHC) in discerning primary pulmonary origin in disseminated malignancies of unascertained origin or cases with divergent presentation. We have reported three cases with seemingly obvious clinical diagnoses; however, IHC evaluation of the biopsy significantly altered the diagnosis and, hence, the management per se. The authors conducted a literature review using PubMed to identify other reported uncommon presentations of lung carcinoma, using the search terms “initial,” “presentation,” and “NSCLC”, among the case reports published between 2001 and 2024. Fifty results derived from screening 528 results were included in the review after excluding studies that described metachronous metastatic sites, involved pediatric patients or non-human subjects, or were not published in English. Additional 34 articles were cited for discussion purposes. These cases and the subsequent review highlight the multifarious presentations of lung carcinoma, leading to diagnostic and clinical predicaments, thus adding to the existing literature. Immunohistochemistry studies are paramount in the assessment of diagnosis, especially in patients with atypical presentations. |
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| ISSN: | 2590-3233 2590-3225 |