My mom, 68, has nsclc with mets to lymph, brain, adrenal. Her tissue was taken from her adrenal gland. She also has a large solid mass on her one remaining ovary. She had 4x carboplatin/alimpta and scans have shown slight improvement on lung and adrenal gland is unchanged. Mom took a chemo break and is now going to start back up in 3 weeks doing just alimpta every 3 to 4 weeks.
The mass on the ovary grew. They said the only way to tell what the ovary is would be to do surgery and remove it and neither my mom or the Dr. want to do that. They are kind of assuming that since the ovary did not respond to the chemo, it is probably a second primary cancer of its own.
My question is, have you had cases where lung cancer spread to ovary? Would you tend to agree with what her Dr. is thinking? He seems to just be making an educated guess anyway. I'm not only asking because my mom is curious but also because I have a complex cyst on one ovary and if my mom probably has ovarian cancer, my ob/gyn advises I get my ovaries removed.
Thanks,
Tonya
Reply # - August 13, 2014, 10:29 AM
Reply To: nsclc adenocarcinoma with met to ovary?
I've had one patient in the last few years who has had a confirmed NSCLC metastasis to the ovary, and she had ALK-positive NSCLC. I've since seen a report that patients with an ALK rearrangement seem to have an unusual propensity for metastases to the ovary...though I don't think it's "common", just quite uncommon instead of very rare. If she hasn't been tested for an ALK rearrangement, it would probably be worth looking for that. If she does have an ALK rearrangement, hers would be a case that further strengthens that association.
Otherwise, I think it's most likely that it's not directly related, whether a second primary cancer or a complex cyst, etc., but something that could only be clarified with a biopsy.
Good luck.
-Dr. West
Reply # - August 13, 2014, 10:30 AM
Reply To: nsclc adenocarcinoma with met to ovary?
See this report:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24360322
Reply # - August 13, 2014, 11:15 AM
Reply To: nsclc adenocarcinoma with met to ovary?
Thank you Dr. West, very informative. Her CA125 blood test is elevated, and we were told she did not test positive for any mutations, but I will double check her file that she was tested for ALK.
With much appreciation,
Tonya