Intestinal bleeding in disseminated non-small cell lung cancer

A case of gastrointestinal bleeding in a 40 year old male with NSCLC is presented. Usual diagnostic tools did not reveal the cause of bleeding and a laparotomy was necessary to localise and treat the haemorrhage. Intestinal metastases have been described in 11% of lung cancer but they rarely produce symptoms. However, intestinal metastases may produce gastrointestinal perforation, obstruction and very occasionally bleeding. In fact, the present report is the second case published of gastrointestinal bleeding from lung cancer metastases. In most cases prognosis is poor for these patients with a median survival of a few weeks. Surgery may palliate selected patients but there is no evidence that chemotherapy is beneficial. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd.