The Spread of Lung Cancer to the Heart, Pericardium and Great Vessels

Abstract

(1) Autopsy data obtained personally at the University of Glasgow on 100 cases of lung cancer were analyzed with reference to spread to the great vessels, pericardium and heart.(2) These 3 sites were found to be invaded in 38, 27, and 7 cases respectively.(3) This centrifugal order of spread and the other observed patterns of spread suggest the conclusion that these sites are usually invaded through lymphatic spread.(4) It is emphasized (a) that lymph-borne mediastinal deposits are intially formed discretely in the classical manner of metastasis, (b) that these metastatic deposits subsequently coalesce with one another, and (c) that it is this coalescence which makes them to look deceptively like deposits formed in continuity through direct spread.