Sudden hearing loss due to internal auditory canal metastasis of Her2-positive gastric cancer: A case report

Gastric cancer with brain metastasis and the role of human epidermal growth factor 2 status

Central nervous system (CNS) metastases from cancers of the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) are rare, and occur in 0.16-0.69% of patients with gastric or gastro-esophageal (GE) junction cancer. Overexpression of the human epidermal growth factor 2 (HER-2) is associated with poor prognosis in the absence of HER-2-targeted therapy, and with an increased incidence of CNS metastases in patients with breast cancer. The role of HER-2 overexpression in CNS metastases is not well known in gastric adenocarcinoma. The purpose of the present retrospective study was to assess the incidence of CNS metastases and to evaluate the associations between the CNS and HER-2 status in a series of consecutive patients with gastric or GE junction cancer. Between 2007 and 2013, 300 patients with gastric cancer (GC) or gastroesophageal junction, were admitted to Piacenza General Hospital, Italy. These cases were retrospectively analyzed to evaluate CNS metastases. The metastases were diagnosed with imaging techniques performed on symptomatic patients. Gastric histological samples of patients with CNS metastases were reviewed and tested for HER-2. A total of 7 of the 300 patients (2.33%) with GC were observed to have CNS metastases and 6 (85.71%) had HER-2 positive disease. These patients exhibited a poor prognosis with a median overall survival rate of 4.1 months (range, 2.1-6.6 months). These results suggested there may be CNS recurrence susceptibility in patients with HER-2 positive GC. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report that associates CNS metastases and HER-2 status in gastric or GE junction cancer.

Hearing loss due to metastasis of gastric cancer to temporal bone: A case report

Metastatic temporal bone tumors are rare, and tend to be asymptomatic. The clinical symptoms consist of aural discharge, bleeding, hearing loss and facial nerve paresis. The most common origin of the metastasis is breast cancer, and other sites of the primary tumor include the thyroid gland, brain, lungs, prostate and blood. Clinical reports of hearing loss due to gastric cancer metastatic to temporal bone are rare. In the present study, a case of gastric cancer metastasis to temporal bone without other organ involvement is described. The patient presented with the symptom of hearing loss, and the metastatic tumor was diagnosed by radiological imaging, including magnetic resonance imaging, computed tomography and bone scan.