Colorectal Cancer Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Colorectal Cancer, including details on symptoms, genetics, screening, treatment, information.

Unusual case of adenocarcinoma arising in endometriosis mimicking colorectal cancer in a young woman with a Müllerian anomaly.

Peiretti M, Zakashansky K, Melis GB, Mais V

Division of Gynecology, Obstetrics and Pathophysiology of Human Reproduction, Department of Surgery, Maternal-Fetal Medicine, and Imaging, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy. michelepeiretti@hotmail.com

OBJECTIVE: To report a case of endometrioid adenocarcinoma that arose in endometriosis mimicking colorectal cancer in a young woman with a Müllerian anomaly. DESIGN: A case report. SETTING: A university hospital. PATIENT(S): A 31-year-old, white nulligravida woman with a history of two previous laparoscopies for infertility and chronic pelvic pain. A solid rectosigmoid mass adherent to the left pelvic sidewall was found in this patient. INTERVENTION(S): The patient was subjected to an exploratory laparotomy followed by adjuvant chemotherapy. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Surgical findings and histopathological observations are included in this report. RESULT(S): Intraoperative and histologic examinations revealed endometriosis-associated colorectal cancer. CONCLUSION(S): Although a rare event, this condition should be considered in the diagnosis of women with a previous history of pelvic endometriosis, Müllerian malformation, abdominal pain, constipation, or rectal bleeding.

Published 1 July 2008 in Fertil Steril, 90(1): 199.e13-5.
Full-text of this article is available online (may require subscription).

© 2004-2008 Colorectal Cancer Research Today. All Rights Reserved.