INTRACRANIAL METASTASIS OF CARCINOMA OF THE LUNG

Abstract

The high incidence of intracranial metastasis in cases of carcinoma of the lung has been long recognized. When such metastasis occurs, it not only is of considerable prognostic importance but may present an extremely difficult diagnostic problem that is deserving of emphasis. The first clinical manifestations of carcinoma of the lung may be due to intracranial metastasis, which may give rise to a symptom complex closely simulating that produced by a rapidly growing and highly invasive primary tumor of the brain. The differential diagnosis between a primary and a secondary tumor of the brain is sometimes extremely difficult and occasionally impossible. The importance of the problem has been emphasized by various observers. Ochsner and DeBakey¹ in a review of 3,047 collected cases of carcinoma of the lung found that metastasis to the brain had occurred in 16.5 per cent. Koletsky,² Graham³ and Arkin and Wagner⁴ reported that intracranial metastasis occurred