Painful tongue lesion as an initial presentation of metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma: a case report and review of the literature

Background: Metastasis of solid tumors to the tongue is a rare occurrence and makes up less than 1% of head and neck cancers. Given the treatment approach for a primary head and neck cancer would differ from metastasis to the tongue, an accurate diagnosis is critical. There are only a few reported cases of pancreatic cancer metastasizing to the head and neck region.