BACKGROUND
The incidence of skeletal muscle metastasis from oesophageal cancer is very low, and the treatment strategy has not been established.
CASE REPORT
A 77-year-old man underwent oesophagectomy following neoadjuvant chemotherapy for oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma (CT-pT3 N0 M0, CT-pStage II). Fourteen months after surgery, he became aware of a subcutaneous tumour in his left forearm. Computed tomography and fluorodeoxyglucose positron-emission tomography revealed a 65×75 mm intramuscular nodular lesion with a standardized uptake value of 8.5. Further examination by biopsy strongly suggested this was a solitary metastasis from oesophageal cancer. The patient received chemoradiotherapy with two cycles of 5-fluorouracil combined with cisplatin and radiation. Clinical complete response was confirmed by imaging 7 months after chemoradiation and no recurrence has occurred at 20 months since chemoradiation.
CONCLUSION
Radiotherapy or chemoradiotherapy can be an alternative locoregional therapy to surgery for solitary skeletal muscle metastasis.