Carcinoma of Unknown Primary (CUP) in Female Presenting with Lower Back Pain: An Important Clinical Lesson

Jamie Hind*, Gur Aziz Sidhu, Chris Powell, Andrew Lacon, Neil Ashwood
Department of Trauma and Orthopaedic, University Hospital Derby and Burton, Belvedere Road, Burton on Trent, DE13 0RB, UK

Correspondence to: Jamie Hind, Department of Trauma and Orthopaedic, University Hospital Derby and Burton, Belvedere Road, Burton on Trent, DE13 0RB, UK; E-mail: jamie.hind@nhs.net
Received date: September 6, 2020; Accepted date: September 15, 2020; Published date: September 22, 2020
Citation: Hind J, Sidhu GA, Powell C, et al. (2020) Carcinoma of Unknown Primary (CUP) in Female Presenting with Lower Back Pain: An Important Clinical Lesson. Onco Tum Res 1(1): pp. 1-3. 10.52916/otr204001
Copyright: ©2020 Hind J, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Abstract

Carcinoma of unknown primary (CUP) Malignancy of unknown origin is associated with high rates of morbidity and mortality. We report a case of a 33-year-old female, diagnosed with CUP, after presenting with gradual onset worsening lower back pain. Immunohistochemistry, blood tests, further investigations, and Multidisciplinary team meetings failed to identify the primary malignancy. This is not an uncommon pathway for patients with CUP. This report highlights how CUP can affect the quality of life of patients and how management for CUP should be focused on enhancing Quality of Life (QOL). It also addresses the difficulty of identifying which group of patients may benefit from further investigations to identify the primary and thus receive target treatment therapy.