Abstract
A 50-year-old woman complaining of a left upper quadrant pain was admitted to hospital. The patient's past medical history included a subtotal gastrectomy with a D2 lymphadenectomy for advanced carcinoma of the stomach 39 months previously and a bilateral oophorectomy for Krukenberg tumor 16 months before admission. The histopathological findings revealed a moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma (type 3 macroscopic findings, SE, INFγ, ly1, v0, N0). On admission, biochemical investigations showed an elevation of carbohydrate antigen 72-4. An abdominal ultrasonography and a computed tomography revealed a solitary splenic tumor approximately 5 cm in diameter. A barium enema examination demonstrated an ulcerative lesion of the descending colon and a narrowing of the entire circumference of the transverse colon. Under a diagnosis of metastatic splenic tumor of gastric carcinoma, a splenectomy with resection of the colon and diaphragm was performed. The cut surface of the resected specimen showed a yellow-white elastic hard tumor in the spleen that had invaded the colon and diaphragm. The histological findings of the splenic tumor were compatible with those of a metastatic carcinoma with invasion into the colon and diaphragm, originating from the gastric carcinoma. The patient is alive and has been free of recurrence for thirteen months after the operation.
