Acute Pancreatitis: First and Sole Manifestation of Small Cell Carcinoma of Lung

Abstract

Small cell carcinoma of the lung is an aggressive disease that tends to metastasize early in its course and has a poor prognosis. Pancreatic metastasis generally constitutes a late manifestation of this disease and most patients do not have organ specific symptoms (jaundice, abdominal pain and weight loss), and it is incidentally discovered on imaging studies. However, acute pancreatitis as the initial presentation of small cell carcinoma of lung is extremely rare. We came across a 71-year-old female who was admitted to the hospital for abdominal pain secondary to acute pancreatitis. Further workup revealed metastatic small cell carcinoma of lung. In English literature we found 11 other cases of small cell carcinoma of lung which had acute pancreatitis as their sole presentation. Therefore, it should be kept in mind as a very rare cause of acute pancreatitis in the right setting. J Med Cases. 2014;5(10):525-528 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.14740/jmc1896w