Benign metastasising leiomyoma: a rare but possible cause of bilateral pulmonary nodules in Chinese patients

JWM Chan, WL Law, SOY Cheung, MP Lee, CK Ng, S Lee, KM Ko, CC Ma, JYS Liu, TM Chan, TYW Mok
Department of Medicine, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, 30 Gascoigne Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong


We report three cases of benign metastasising leiomyoma, which is a rare cause of multiple lung nodules, in three Hong Kong Chinese females. One patient presented with pleuritic chest pain, another was asymptomatic, while the last presented with haemoptysis. All three patients had previously undergone surgical resection of uterine leiomyomas. Multiple lung nodules mimicking lung metastases were demonstrated on chest radiographs, and all three diagnoses were obtained from lung biopsies. Hormonal therapy was given to two patients with variable responses. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of benign metastasising leiomyoma in Hong Kong Chinese population. It highlights the importance of considering this rare and benign disease in premenopausal females presenting with multiple lung nodules.

Hong Kong Med J 2005;11:303-6

Key words: Hormone replacement therapy; Leiomyoma; Lung neoplasms; Neoplasms metastasis; Uterine neoplasms