A surgical case of synchronous solitary splenic metastasis from lung squamous cell carcinoma: report of a case and review of the literature

Solitary splenic metastasis is an extremely rare event. We herein report a surgical case of a solitary splenic metastasis from lung cancer. A 78-year-old man presented with abdominal pain. Abdominal computed tomography (CT) showed splenic rupture. Coil embolization to the splenic artery was performed, and the patient’s condition improved. Chest CT showed a 5-cm lung mass in the right upper lobe, suggesting lung cancer with splenic metastasis. Transbronchial aspiration cytology showed squamous cell carcinoma of the lung. We diagnosed the patient with lung cancer (cT2bN0M1b [spleen only] stage IVA) and performed splenectomy and right upper lobectomy separately. Both lesions were squamous cell carcinoma and positive for p40. Thus, primary lung squamous cell carcinoma and solitary splenic metastasis were diagnosed. The patient was still alive without recurrence 15 months postoperatively. We herein report a rare case of lung squamous cell carcinoma with solitary splenic metastasis and review the literature.