Metastases to the products of conception from a maternal bronchial carcinoma. A case report and review of literature.

The association of mother's malignancy with metastases to the products of conception is rarely reported. We present 8th case reported in the literature of oat-cell lung carcinoma complicated by an aggressive clinical course and documented placental metastases. Review of all published cases of lung cancer metastasizing to the placenta is also presented. A 44-year-old white pregnant woman at an estimated gestational age of 30 weeks presented with cervical incompetence symptoms and multiple tumors of 2-4 cm in diameter located in the subcutaneous tissue of the chest, including both breasts. The biopsy revealed a metastatic oat-cell carcinoma. Cesarean section was performed immediately. During the procedure, micronodular metastatic infiltration of the liver was noted. Microscopic examination of placenta showed clusters of oat-cell carcinoma calls within the intervillous spaces; no infiltration of villi themselves was noted. The malignant cells were morphologically identical as those of the subcutaneous metastases. The woman succumbed to cancer and died on the 16th postoperative day. Lung cancer metastasizing to the placenta is relatively rarely reported. In all cases only placental metastases were found; the fetus in all cases was spared. Only in one out of 8 reported cases outcome of mother was not fatal. It should be emphasized that not in all cases of maternal malignancy the histological examination of the placental was made Therefore it is possible that the incidence of placental involvement is more often than it is reported.