A rare case of eight multiple primary malignant neoplasms in a female patient: A case report and review of the literature

Abstract

In recent years, the number of patients exhibiting multiple primary malignant neoplasms has been increasing. The current study reports the rare case of a 61-year-old Chinese female with eight histopathologically confirmed primary malignant neoplasms; to the best of our knowledge, such a high number of malignant neoplasms in one patient has not previously been described in the English literature. The tumors originated from the colon (five separate tumors over 32 years), the endometrium, the breast and the small intestine. It is important to diagnose multiple primary malignant neoplasms as such patients generally exhibit a more favorable prognosis compared with metastatic carcinoma patients. In addition, prolonged follow-up after surgery should be considered.

Keywords: multiple primary malignant neoplasms.

Figure 1

Photomicrographs of hematoxylin and eosin-stained specimens from the patient’s various carcinomas. (A) Grade III colonic adenocarcinoma (year, 1979); (B) grade II colonic adenocarcinoma (year, 1988); (C) well-differentiated endometrial adenocarcinoma (year, 1996); (D) colonic carcinoma (year, 1998); (E) canal papillary carcinoma of the right breast (year, 2004); (F) mushroom-like colonic adenocarcinoma (year, 2007); (G) colonic mucinous adenocarcinoma (year, 2011); (H) small intestinal mucinous adenocarcinoma (year, 2011). Within each figure part, the magnification of the left panel is ×100 and that of the right panel is ×400.