Adenocarcinoma of Lung and Bronchial Carcinoid Presenting as Double Synchronous Primary Lung Cancer: A Case Report and Review of Literature

Recent advances in imaging techniques led to an increase in the incidence of synchronous and metachronous primary lung cancers due to early detection. Management of these patients is challenging and prognosis depends on the stage of the tumor at initial diagnosis and histological type. A 68-year-old African American male patient with medical history of hypertension and diabetes mellitus presented to our emergency department with right sided chest pain, worsening dyspnea and dry cough of 2-week duration. He also reported significant weight loss and was a smoker with 25 pack-years smoking history. Chest radiology showed a large right pleural effusion. Subsequent thoracentesis and fluid analysis revealed a lymphocytic exudate. Patient underwent bronchoscopy with findings of an endobronchial lesion in the left lower bronchus. Microscopic analysis of the biopsy specimen showed a well differentiated carcinoid. It was decided to proceed with VATS and pleural biopsy as part of workup for unexplained exudative pleural effusion. Multiple pleural nodules were detected during the procedure and biopsy of these nodules revealed adenocarcinoma of lung. He was evaluated by Oncology and underwent palliative chemotherapy. The association of carcinoid with adenocarcinoma of lung was infrequently reported in the past. This case also highlights the importance of additional diagnostic workup for primary when the diagnosed malignancy does not explain the clinical presentation.