Visceral Crisis in Metastatic Cancer

Severe organ dysfunction may be associated with:

(1) carcinomatous meningitis or leptomeningeal metastases

(2) extensive liver metastases causing hepatic failure

(3) respiratory failure from bulky metastases or lymphangitic spread

(4) bone marrow failure from bone marrow replacement

Examples include certain types of breast and gastric adenocarcinomas.

The diagnosis requires exclusion of other causes of organ dysfunction (chemotherapy toxicity, fulminant infection, etc).