Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) accounts for 10-20% of all lung cancers and is characterised by early and rapid spread. Ten percent of patients already have cerebral metastases at time of presentation.
We report a case of a 37-yr-old female whose pre-operative CT and MRI brain revealed multicentric left frontal and temporal lesions which mimicked intracerebral abscess intraoperatively and confirmed on gram stain as moderate growth of white cells. The patient was commenced on prolonged antimicrobial therapy postoperatively, however, histology reported SCLC metastases with lung as primary and patient was eventually commenced on chemotherapy.
The prevalence of intraoperative histopathological frozen section to better support diagnosis and good understanding of SCLC cerebral metastases from accumulation of cases together with modern diagnostic tools will hopefully lead to prompt and adequate therapeutic options for patients.