Bowel perforation due to metastatic lung cancer

Lung cancer infrequently metastasizes to the bowel. When this occurs, the symptoms may vary from mild to emergent in nature. Three patients are presented illustrating the life threatening complications that may occur due to bowel metastases of lung carcinoma. A review of the literature reveals that only four of 24 reported patients have survived bowel perforation due to metastatic lung carcinoma. One of the three patients presented herein survived to be discharged home. Patients with known lung carcinoma who develop abdominal complaints should be investigated aggressively to prevent life-threatening complications by early intervention.