Perioperative stroke caused by arterial tumor embolism.
Rarely, cancer invades a pulmonary vein and subsequently embolizes to the cerebral circulation, causing a stroke. Tumor embolism typically involves large, centrally located lung tumors. We report a case of immediate postoperative stroke caused by an arterial tumor embolism during pulmonary resection of metastatic sarcoma. This case is unique because the resected lesions were smaller than those previously associated with tumor embolism and unusual in that the tumors were peripherally located. Tumor embolization should be considered in the differential diagnosis of stroke after lung cancer surgery even with small, peripherally located pulmonary malignancies.


CONCLUSIONS
We present a case of stroke diagnosed in the recovery room after lung cancer resection. The cause of the stroke was tumor that embolized from the lung to the middle cerebral artery. Tumor embolism should be considered in the differential diagnosis of immediate postoperative stroke after lung cancer surgery.
Department of Anesthesiology, Rush Medical College, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois 60612, USA. douglas_brown@rush.edu
Douglas V
DV
Brown
L Penfield
LP
Faber
Kenneth J
KJ
Tuman
D017809:Fatal Outcome; D018219:Histiocytoma, Benign Fibrous / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009360:Neoplastic Cells, Circulating / Q000473:pathology*; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology; D012983:Soft Tissue Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery; D020521:Stroke / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology