Isolated pulmonary nodules in head and neck cancer patients

Not infrequently, a patient with newly diagnosed head and neck cancer is noted on preoperative chest radiography to have a solitary pulmonary nodule. It is initially unclear whether the pulmonary nodule is a benign lesion or a metastatic or primary lung malignancy. Considerable controversy exists regarding the evaluation of such patients as well as the treatment, assuming that the pulmonary lesion is malignant. We have reviewed the UCLA experience with patients who had head and neck cancers and pulmonary cancers no more than 5 years apart, and reviewed the literature on early stage lung cancer. We present a rational approach to the workup and treatment of patients with head and neck cancer and a pulmonary nodule on chest radiography.