[Pleuropulmonary metastases of female cancers]

Rev Pneumol Clin. 1999 Oct;55(5):271-9.
[Article in French]

Abstract

Pleuropulmonary metastasis occurs in 30 to 50% of all patients with cancer. Certain metastases occur specifically in females: breast and ovary cancer. There are six different clinical presentations of bronchopulmonary metastases: unique or multiple nodular images, mediastinal nodes, carcinomatous lymphangitis, bronchial metastasis, tumoral emboli, and metastatic bronchiolo-alveolar metastatic cancer. When the primary cancer is not known, a minimum number of investigations are needed: thyroid and pelvic ultrasound, mammography, colonscopy for certain cases, alfa-fetoprotein assay, neuron-specific enolase and beta HCG. Metastatic pleurisy accounts for 45% of all cases of pleurisy. In women, neoplastic pleural effusions result from breast cancer (37%), genitourinary tract cancer (20%), and lung cancer (15%).

Publication types

  • English Abstract
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Breast Neoplasms / blood
  • Breast Neoplasms / epidemiology
  • Breast Neoplasms / pathology*
  • Chorionic Gonadotropin, beta Subunit, Human / blood
  • Colonoscopy
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Incidence
  • Lung Neoplasms / blood
  • Lung Neoplasms / diagnosis*
  • Lung Neoplasms / epidemiology
  • Lung Neoplasms / secondary*
  • Mammography
  • Ovarian Neoplasms / blood
  • Ovarian Neoplasms / epidemiology
  • Ovarian Neoplasms / pathology*
  • Phosphopyruvate Hydratase / blood
  • Pleural Neoplasms / blood
  • Pleural Neoplasms / diagnosis*
  • Pleural Neoplasms / epidemiology
  • Pleural Neoplasms / secondary*
  • alpha-Fetoproteins / metabolism

Substances

  • Chorionic Gonadotropin, beta Subunit, Human
  • alpha-Fetoproteins
  • Phosphopyruvate Hydratase