Non-small cell lung carcinoma in an adolescent manifested by acute paraplegia due to spinal metastases: a case report

INTRODUCTION Bronchial carcinomas in childhood and adolescence are extremely rare; only individual cases have been reported previously. CASE PRESENTATION We report on a 16-year-old Caucasian German boy with non-small cell lung carcinoma (squamous cell non-small cell lung carcinoma) stage IV, T4N2M1, without epidermal growth factor receptor overexpression and/or mutation or k-ras mutation. He presented with paraplegia due to spinal metastases of the bronchial carcinoma. No familial predisposition or toxin exposure was identified. Treatment following adult protocols consisted of surgical intervention for spinal metastases, first-line cisplatinum and gemcitabine, irradiation and second-line docetaxel. After a transient response our patient experienced disease progression and died about 10 months later. CONCLUSION Response and survival in our 16-year-old patient were similar to adult patients with stage IV non-small cell lung carcinoma.