Ethmoidal adenocarcinoma with lung metastases: diagnosis and multimodal treatment.

ABSTRACT

We report a case of 68-year-old patient underwent a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the skull and a computed tomography (CT) of the thorax for rhinorrhea and dyspnea. The MRI showed an irregular ethmoidal lesion and the CT of the thorax underlined a solid nodular neoformation in the upper right pulmonary lobe. The patient underwent rhinoscopy with biopsies that showed an ethmoidal adenocarcinoma; excision of the tumour was carried out via trans-sphenoid. After one month the patient underwent wedge-resections in video-thoracoscopy (VATS). Perioperative histologic examination revealed a lung metastases due to an adenocarcinoma of the ethmoid. The patient was treated with chemotherapy and did not show relapses after 12 months from VATS.