Background:
The incidence of multiple primary malignant neoplasms increases with age and they are encountered more frequently nowadays than before, the phenomenon is still considered to be rare.
Case presentation:
We report a case of a man in whom urinary bladder transitional cell carcinoma, metachronous prostate adenocarcinoma and small cell lung carcinoma were diagnosed within an eighteen-month period. The only known predisposing factor was that he was heavy smoker (90-100 packets per year). The literature on the phenomenon of multiple primary malignancies in a single patient is reviewed and the data is summarized.
Conclusion:
It is important for the clinicians to keep in mind the possibility of a metachronous (successive) or a synchronous (simultaneous) malignancy in a cancer patient. It is worthy mentioning this case because clustering of three primary malignancies (synchronous and metachronous) is of rare occurrence in a single patient, and, to our knowledge, this is the first report this combination of three carcinomas appearing in the same patient.