Small-cell lung cancer metastasis to ameningioma - Case report and review of the literature

Sep 24, 2026

Tumor-to-tumor metastasis is an uncommon event in which a donor tumor metastasizes to a recipient tumor, with meningioma reported as the recipient in about 20% of cases. Lung and breast cancer are the most frequent primary donors, and most lung-to-meningioma metastases involve lung adenocarcinoma. Only three prior reports describe small-cell lung cancer with this spread pattern. A 67-year-old patient developed a small-cell lung cancer metastasis to a meningioma.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages5

Reading Time13 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Case presentation

Figures and pathology findings

Literature background and prior cases

Article history and licensing

Radiology Ca s e Reports 18 (2023) 1452 – 1456 Available online [at](at www.sciencedirect.com)[ www.sciencedirect.com](at www.sciencedirect.com) journal [homepage:](homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/radcr)[ www.elsevier.com/locate/radcr](homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/radcr) | Case Report
Small-cell lung cancer metastasis to ameningioma: Case report and review of the literature ✩,✩✩,★
Loukas A. Georgiou, BSa,∗, Jeremiah H. Wright, MDb, Thomas O. Markel, MDc, Paul J. Sims, MDd
a Kentucky College of Osteopathic Medicine, 147 Sycamore St., Pikeville, KY 41501, USA b Department of Radiology, Jackson-Madison County General Hospital, Jackson, TN, USAc Department of Radiology, Radia Inc., Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center, Vancouver, WA, USA d Department of Pathology, Jackson-Madison County General Hospital, Jackson, TN, USA | | | | --- | --- | --- | | a r t i c l e i n f o | | a b s t r a c t | | Article history:
Received 29 December 2022 Revised 7 January 2023 Accepted 9 January 2023 | | Tumor-to-tumor metastasis is a rare event with meningioma as the recipient tumor accounting for 20% of the reported cases. The most common primary cancers showing this phenomenon are lung and breast cancer. Most lung cancers metastasizing to a meningioma are due to lung adenocarcinoma with the literature containing only 3 prior reports of small-cell lung cancer showing this pattern of spread. Herein, we present the case of a 67-year-old-patient with small-cell lung cancer that developed a metastasis to ameningioma.
© 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of University of Washington.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
([http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)) | | Keywords:
Lung neoplasm
Meningioma
Tumor-to-tumor metastasis Small-cell | | | Introduction Two tumors coexisting in a single location is a rare phenomenon and occurs due to either a tumor-to-tumor metastasis or in a collision tumor. Unfortunately, although the 2 modes of tumor growth are distinct, the 2 terms are often inappropriately used interchangeably. Tumor-to-tumor metastatic spread occurs when a donor tumor showshematogenous metastatic spread to a recipient tumor. A collision tumor consists of 2 histologically distinct tumors localized within a single organ growing into each other. ✩ Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. ✩✩ Name of Department and Institution Where Work Was Done: Department of Radiation Oncology, Carl Kirkland Cancer Center, Jackson, TN, USA. ★ Funding: None. ∗ Corresponding author. E-mail address: [loukasgeorgiou@upike.edu](loukasgeorgiou@upike.edu) (L.A. Georgiou). [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.radcr.2023.01.040](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.radcr.2023.01.040) 1930-0433/© 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of University of Washington. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license ([http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)) Fig. 1 – H&E as well as immunohistochemistry staining of the biopsy specimen from the left lung revealed small-cell lung cancer. (A) H&E staining reveals that the tumor is composed of small to medium sized round to oval blue cells with minimal cytoplasm. The nuclei exhibit a “salt and pepper” chromatin pattern with indistinct nucleoli, nuclear molding, smudge artifact, and frequent mitotic figures. Necrosis and individual cell apoptosis is evident (40× magnification). (B) The tumor cells demonstrate immunoreactivity to cytokeratin 8/18 (20× magnification). (C) Immunoreactivity is also seen with CD56 staining (20× magnification) and to (D) synaptophysin (20× magnification). (E) A Ki-67 stain shows a proliferation index of approximately 70%

FAQs

What is tumor-to-tumor metastasis in this article?

It is metastatic spread where a donor tumor disseminates hematogenously into a recipient tumor. The paper contrasts this with collision tumors where two histologically distinct tumors grow into each other within the same organ.

Why is meningioma an important recipient tumor in tumor-to-tumor metastasis?

Meningioma accounts for about 20% of reported tumor-to-tumor metastasis cases. The article notes that breast and lung cancers are the most common donor tumors in these reports.

What did imaging and biopsy show in the presented case?

Chest CT revealed a large left upper lung mass with multiple bilateral non-calcified pulmonary nodules. CT-guided biopsy and immunohistochemistry supported small-cell lung cancer, and brain MRI did not show parenchymal brain metastases while an extra-axial mass compatible with meningioma was identified.

Sep 24, 2026

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