Synchronous double primary small cell lung cancer and invasive ductal breast carcinoma - a case report

Sep 21, 2026

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Synchronous double primary malignant tumors involving the lung and breast are rarely documented. A 75-year-old woman presented with dizziness and slurred speech, and imaging showed a right lung mass and a right breast space-occupying lesion. Breast biopsy confirmed invasive ductal carcinoma, while lung biopsy confirmed small cell lung cancer with brain metastases. The case employed whole-brain radiation, focal radiotherapy, and adjuvant concurrent chemotherapy with oral etoposide. The report concludes the combination of primary SCLC and IDC as synchronous double cancer appears to be the first described instance.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

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Pages7

Reading Time18 min

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Abstract

Background

Case presentation

Conclusions

Keywords

Gan et al. BMC Pulmonary Medicine (2024) 24:93 [https://doi.org/10.1186/s12890-024-02897-y](https://doi.org/10.1186/s12890-024-02897-y) BMC Pulmonary Medicine CASE REPORT Open Access Synchronous double primary small cell lung cancer and invasive ductal breast carcinoma: a case report Junqing Gan 1†, Meiyue Liu 1†, Fei Liu2, Junxiu Wen3, Wenjuan Fu 1 and Jinghao Jia 1* Abstract Background Although lung and breast cancers are common malignancies, the occurrence of primary synchronous neoplasms involving these organs has been rarely reported in literature. Case presentation A 75-year-old female patient presented at a local hospital with a ten-day history of dizziness and slurred speech. A CT contrast-enhanced scan revealed a 4.2 cm mass in the lower lobe of the right lung anda 3.8 cm space-occupying lesion in the right breast. Subsequent breast ultrasound identified a hypoechoic lesion measuring5 .41 × 4.75 × 3.06 cm in the right breast, and an ultrasound-guided biopsy confirmed the presence of infiltrating ductal carcinoma of the right breast. The immunohistochemistry analysis of the breast mass revealed positive staining for ER, PR, HER-2, AR and Ki67 in the tumor cells, while negative staining was observed for P63, Cal ponin, CK5/6 and CK14 . MR imaging of the head detected abnormal signals in the right frontal lobe (3 .6 cm×2 .9 cm in size), left cerebellar hemisphere, and punctate enhancement in the left temporal lobe, indicating potential metastasis. Pathological examination of a lung biopsy specimen confirmed the presence of small cell lung cancer (SCLC) . Furthermore, immunohistochemistry analysis of the lung lesions demonstrated positive staining for TTF-1, CK-Pan, Syn, CgA, CD56, P53 (90%) and Ki67 (70%), and negative staining for NapsinA and P40 in the tumor cells. The patient’s diagnosis of SCLC with stage cT2bN0M1c IVB and brain metastases (BM), as well as invasive ductal breast carcinoma (IDC), was confirmed based on the aforementioned results. Whereupon we proposed a treatment plan consisting of whole-brain radiation (40 Gy/20fractions), focal radiotherapy (60 Gy/20fractions), and adjuvant concurrent chemotherapy with oral etoposide (50 mg on days 1 to 20) . Conclusions To the best of our knowledge, the present case is the first of its kind to describe the synchronous double cancer, consisting of primary SCLC and IDC. Keywords Synchronous double primary malignant tumor, Small cell lung cancer, Breast invasive ductal carcinoma †Junqing Gan and Meiyue Liu contributed equally to this work. *Correspondence: Jinghao Jia [jjh0322@163.com](jjh0322@163.com) 1Department of Chemoradiation, North China University of Science and Technology Affiliated Hospital, Tangshan, Hebei, China 2Department of Radiotherapy, North China University of Science and Technology Affiliated Hospital, Tangshan, Hebei, China 3Department of Pathology, North China University of Science and Technology Affiliated Hospital, Tangshan, Hebei, China © The Author(s) 2024. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit [http://creativecommons.org/l](http://creativecommons.org/l)icenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver ([http://creativecommons.org

FAQs

What cancers were diagnosed in this synchronous double primary case?

The patient was diagnosed with small cell lung cancer (SCLC) and invasive ductal breast carcinoma (IDC) occurring synchronously as primary tumors.

What key diagnostic methods confirmed the diagnoses?

CT and ultrasound identified the lung and breast lesions, biopsies confirmed IDC and SCLC, and immunohistochemistry profiles supported each diagnosis; MR imaging assessed brain metastases.

How was the treatment plan designed and what therapies were used?

Treatment included whole-brain radiation (40 Gy/20 fractions), focal radiotherapy (60 Gy/20 fractions), and adjuvant concurrent chemotherapy with oral etoposide (50 mg on days 1–20).

Sep 21, 2026

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