Sudden Blindness Turns Out To Be Symptom of Tumor Growth in a Woman’s Lung; What Is Metastatic Cancer and How Is It Acquired?

In oncology, there is no single test that can accurately diagnose cancer. This medical condition is suspected based on symptoms, outcomes of physical examination, and results of screening tests. The diagnostic procedures include the body parts that exhibit symptoms of cancer.

In a very rare case, however, a woman's visual impairment turned out to be the initial symptom of undiagnosed lung cancer, which has spread throughout her body.

Unusual Cancer Symptom

A 32-year-old woman who lost vision in her right eye decided to seek medical attention after experiencing occasional light flashes in her left eye for about 20 days. At the time, she was healthy, had no history of smoking, and did not show any suspicious medical condition.

The doctors who performed an initial eye exam at the hospital determined that her eyes looked healthy. They were not red or painful, and their key structures seemed intact. The lens was clear and the iris and pupil did not show noticeable abnormalities.

Upon closer inspection, however, medical experts noticed a large, whitish-yellowish mass growing in the back of her right eye. The retina, or the light-sensitive part of the eye, is also detached due to the accumulation of fluid. A similar, smaller lesion was found in her left eye, although the retina remained intact.

To determine the cause of these masses' appearance, the doctors decided to check the woman's blood. They discovered that she had no signs of blood disorder or an active viral infection since her immune cell and red blood cell counts were normal. She was also negative for autoimmune disease or human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, both of which could make a person more vulnerable to vision loss and changes.

A chest X-ray and a whole-body scan finally revealed the culprit. It was shown that a mass of cancerous tissue grew in the lower part of her right lung. This tumor growth had spread to other organs, such as the part of the eyes known as choroid.

When cancer spreads to the eyes, the migrating tumor growth usually stays in the choroid. However, this event rarely occurs in lung cancers, which migrate to the eyes in only 0.1% to 7% of cases.

It is also rarer for people to experience blindness as the first sign of underlying lung cancer. Around 60 such cases have been described in the medical literature so far. This particular case is even more unusual because the woman did not smoke.

Health experts believe that this case could be the first instance of a non-smoking woman of her age who developed visual impairment as the initial symptom of lung cancer. She likely had a distinct subset of lung cancer, which can spread without causing indicative symptoms of metastasis. After the cancer was spotted, the woman was referred to an oncologist for treatment, although it was not reported if the patient was doing well now.

READ ALSO: MIT Developed a Circulating Tumor Cell Counting Approach As a Solution to How Metastatic Cancer Works

What is Metastatic Cancer?

Metastatic cancer refers to a cancer that develops in one part of the body and then spreads to another. In this condition, cancer cells leave where they first formed and travel through the blood or lymph system to form new tumors in other body parts.

When a person is diagnosed with metastatic cancer, doctors usually cannot determine where the tumor growth started. Most of the time, the cancer cells die at some point as they spread. However, as long as conditions are favorable for the tumors at every step, some can form new growth in other body parts.

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