Gingival metastasis in lung cancer

Gingival metastasis is an extremely rare manifestation of lung cancer, and exhibits rapid growth with various clinical symptoms. Physicians must appropriately manage patients with lung cancer who develop gingival metastasis. Clinical records of patients with lung cancer treated at the Department of Internal Medicine II, Okayama University Hospital, between 1976 and 1998 were retrospectively reviewed. The medical literature was searched by Medline to identify reports of gingival metastasis from lung cancer. Three of 729 (0.41%) lung cancer patients developed gingival metastasis in our hospital between 1976 and 1998, and 9 additional cases of this type of metastasis were found in the literature. All were male, and median age was 57.5 years (range, 47 to 70). There were no clear correlations between development of gingival metastasis and either histologic type or location of the primary lesion. Chemotherapy or radiotherapy was effective for treatment of gingival metastasis, and the quality of life was improved. However, survival after development of gingival metastasis was very short, with median survival of only 4 months.