2004 Volume 65 Issue 4 Pages 1000-1003
An internal malignancy metastasized to the umbilicus is known as Sister Mary Joseph's nodule. which is comparatively rare. We report herein on a resected case with a synchronous umbilical metastasis of colon carcinoma. An 89-year-old female had visited an internal medicine clinic near-by with pain and a tumor on her umbilicus. Physical examination showed a nodular tumor about 2 cm in diameter on her umbilicus and a palpable mass in the right lower abdominal region. An endoscopic examination revealed a cecal cancer. We performed a right hemicolectomy and resection of the umbilical tumor on March 12, 2003. There were no metastases to liver or peritoneal dissemination. The continuation with the cecal cancer and the umbilical tumor was not recognized. Histopathological examination revealed a cecal cancer and an umbilical metastasis of a moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma. The patient had an uneventful postoperative course, and was discharged from our hospital.
Our first appreciation of the ominous prognostic significance of the primary malignant lesions might well have been due to the presence of the umbilical metastasis.
Nihon Rinsho Geka Gakkai Zasshi (Journal of Japan Surgical Association)
