Small bowel adenocarcinoma in Crohn's disease: a case report and review of literature

Abstract

Small bowel adenocarcinomas are remarkable for their rarity, difficult diagnosis and poor prognosis. Here we report an unusual case of a 33-year-old patient in whom infiltrative adenocarcinoma of the small bowel was diagnosed after a 10-year history of Crohn's disease. In most previously reported cases, detection of Crohn's disease was subsequent to that of carcinoma of the small bowel or the patients involved had an even longer history of the disease. Our literature review suggests that the risk of small bowel adenocarcinoma is higher in patients with Crohn's disease than in the overall population. We present details on epidemiology as well as clinical and diagnostic aspects of this rare disease entity.

Figure 1

Enteroclysis: dilated intestinal loop of the ileum; altered Crohn’s area (big arrow), one high grade and one low grade tumor stenosis in the right upper abdomen (two small arrows).