Tongue and cheek metastases as the first clinical sign of a primary cancer.

Metastases to the oral cavity are rare and are most frequently seen in the jawbones. Soft tissue metastases as the first clinical sign of a metastatic cancer are quite exceptional. In this case report, we describe the history of a 67-year old patient presenting with painless oral lesions for 4 weeks. Biopsies showed metastases of an adenocarcinoma that was not yet identified. This case report highlights that an ENT physician should consider metastases to the oral cavity as part of the differential diagnosis in every patient with an uncommon, persistent oral lesion with unclear origin.