Lower limb lymphedema in lung adenocarcinoma: Two case reports

Breast and gynecological cancers and their treatment may cause lymphedema of the upper and lower extremities, respectively. We herein report the cases of two patients with lung adenocarcinoma who developed lymphedema of the lower extremities. One patient harbored an epidermal growth factor receptor mutation and the other patient harbored an anaplastic lymphoma kinase fusion gene. The patients had developed intra-abdominal lymph node metastases and received several lines of chemotherapy. In both patients, lymphedema in the lower extremities developed >30 months after the initiation of first-line chemotherapy. To the best of our knowledge, these are the first reported cases of lung cancer patients who developed lymphedema in the lower extremities. Although rarely, lymphedema of the lower extremities may develop long after successful therapy with molecular-targeted therapy in advanced lung adenocarcinoma patients with a specific genetic etiological background.