Open Access Case report

Adjacent thoracic lymph node metastases originating from two separate primary cancers: case report

Khalid A El-Gendy1†, Gary K Atkin1†, Robert E Brightwell2*†, Paul Richman3 and Jeremy I Livingstone1

Author Affiliations

1 Department of Surgery, Watford General Hospital, Vicarage Rd, Watford, WD18 0HB, Hertfordshire, UK

2 Department of Biosurgery and Surgical Technology, Imperial College London, London, UK

3 Department of Histopathology, Mount Vernon Hospital, Rickmansworth Rd, Northwood, Middlesex, HA6 2RN, UK

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International Seminars in Surgical Oncology 2008, 5:22 doi:10.1186/1477-7800-5-22

Published: 2 October 2008

Abstract

Reported is an unusual case of adjacent thoracic lymph nodes demonstrating metastases from two different primary malignancies. A 51 year-old woman with a previous history of bilateral breast cancer underwent a radical gastro-oesophagectomy for adenocarcinoma of the lower third of the oesophagus. The resection specimen demonstrated breast and oesophageal metastases in adjacent thoracic lymph nodes. Mechanisms for this phenomenon, including the known local immune suppression on lymphoid cells by oesophageal carcinoma cells, are discussed.