Lessons to be learned: a case study approach: Metastatic bronchogenic carcinoma presenting as a gluteal abscess

Abstract

It is well known that bronchogenic carcinoma frequently metastasises to the bony skeleton, but it is most unusual for it to present in the form of a musculoskeletal abscess. Presented here is the case report of a patient with what appeared initially to be a right sided gluteal abscess and which turned out to be the metastasis from a bronchogenic carcinoma. The Magnetic Resonance Image (MRI) scan carried out proved to be very helpful in arriving at a probable clinical diagnosis; however, it was histopathological studies of the abscess wall itself that ultimately gave the definitive diagnosis. We believe that this may represent one of the first documented cases in which an MRI scan has been used to confirm the presence of a gluteal abscess.