Gingival metastasis of a mediastinal pulmonary sarcomatoid carcinoma: a case report

BACKGROUND: Pulmonary sarcomatoid carcinoma (PSC) is a rare malignancy with both epithelial and sarcoma components, and high tumor metastasis potential. CASE PRESENTATION: A 63-year-old male patient had a tumor in the right posterior mediastinum, and was eventually diagnosed with PSC and gingival metastasis. The patient underwent thoracoscopic right upper pneumonectomy with lymph node dissections, and the subsequent gingival biopsy revealed a metastatic PSC. The immunohistochemistry revealed that both PSC site tissues were positive for vimentin, CKAE1/AE3 and Ki-67. The patient received radiotherapy and chemotherapy after surgery, and deceased two months later due to systemic tumor metastases. CONCLUSION: PSC metastasis is variable, and leads to diagnostic dilemma or erroneous diagnosis. A differential diagnosis can help to distinguish it from gingival cancer.