Pathological Clavicle Fracture as the First Symptom of Lung Cancer

J Orthop Case Rep. 2020;10(2):54-57. doi: 10.13107/jocr.2020.v10.i02.1694.

Abstract

Introduction: Pain around the shoulder is very common. The most frequent causes of shoulder pain without traumatic even are rotator cuff diseases, shoulder, and sternoclavicular arthritis, other causes are neoplastic pathology, but lung cancer metastasis has never been described.

Case report: We describe a rare case of pathological clavicle fracture as the cause of atraumatic shoulder pain, as the first case of lung cancer, and discuss the different cause of shoulder pain.

Conclusion: Pathological clavicular fracture is a very rare disease and symptom of lung cancer but should be in the differential diagnosis in patients with focal pain without traumatic event and abnormal radiographic studies.

Keywords: Clavicle; cancer; fracture; lung; metastatic.

Publication types

  • Case Reports