Radiologic Findings in Skeletal Muscle Metastasis From Lung Carcinoma

Purpose: In the case of the skeletal muscie metastasis of lung cancer the authors report radiographic, CT scan and MRI findings of painful masses in the femoral regions. Muscle biopsy revealed extensive infiltration of the muscle with carcinoma cells. Case: A 68 year-old man presented with a large cavitary lesion with thickened wall in the left hilus on radiogrraphy and CT scan. The diagnosis of the lung cancer was made by bronchoalveolar lavage. The radiograph did not Show any soft tissue mass, except periosteal reaction. MRI showed a tumoral mass in the right quadriceps muscle with signal intensity slightly lower on T1-weighted and higher in T2-weighted images than surrounding muscle tissue.Needle biopsy revealed metastatic squamous cell carcinoma. The patient died six month later. Conclusion: MRI is more useful technique than the other methods for determination of the localization, the relationship of the surrounding tissues and the manifestations of metastatic masses on the skeletal muscle due to malign tumor of the lung.