Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Case Reports
. 2017 Aug 22;11(1):232.
doi: 10.1186/s13256-017-1399-8.

Gastrointestinal adenocarcinoma metastasizing to the vulva: a case report

Muchabayiwa F Gidiri  1 , M Nyakura  2 , M Hukuimwe  2 , T Magwali  2 , R Makunike-Mutasa  3 , F D Museta  4
Affiliations
Case Reports

Gastrointestinal adenocarcinoma metastasizing to the vulva: a case report

Muchabayiwa F Gidiri et al. J Med Case Rep. .

Abstract

Background: Metastatic vulval adenocarcinoma is a rare occurrence with only a few cases reported to date. They can arise from the breast, gastrointestinal system, or endometrium.

Case presentation: We present the case of a 55-year-old Black African woman who presented with vulval itching which progressed to warty lesions. Histology revealed a vulval adenocarcinoma which immunohistochemistry suggested was of gastrointestinal origin. Colonoscopy later confirmed an anorectal tumor as the primary site. Despite extensive chest metastases she looked surprisingly well and had no pulmonary symptoms. The major source of symptomatic distress was the itchy extensive warty lesions on her vulva. She has since had a vulvectomy which gave her significant symptomatic relief.

Conclusions: This case was interesting as vulval adenocarcinoma is a rare histological diagnosis found in less than 10% of vulval cancers. Primary vulval adenocarcinoma is rare with most of these cancers being secondary metastases from a distant site. Her symptoms were predominantly vulval with no chest symptoms even though she had extensive pulmonary metastases. She has been clinically well except for the itching suggesting an indolent course.

Keywords: Adenocarcinoma; Gastrointestinal origin; Gastrointestinal primary; Metastatic; Secondary vulval adenocarcinoma; Vulva.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Not applicable.

Consent for publication

Written informed consent was obtained from the patient for publication of this case report and any accompanying images. A copy of the written consent is available for review by the Editor-in-Chief of this journal.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The vulva: a pre-operative; b immediately postoperative; c 1-month post operation and d 2-months post vulvectomy
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Siu SSN, Luesley D. Malignant disease of the vulva and vagina. In: Shaw RW, Luesley D, Monga A, editors. Gynaecology. London: Churchill Livingstone Elsevier; 2011. pp. 613–4.
    1. Bloss JD, Liao SY, Wilczynski SP, et al. Clinical and histologic features of vulvar carcinomas analyzed for human papillomavirus status: evidence that squamous cell carcinoma of the vulva has more than one etiology. Hum Pathol. 1991;7:711. doi: 10.1016/0046-8177(91)90294-Y. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Andersen WA, Franquemont DW, William J, Taylor PT, Crum CP. Vulvar squamous cell carcinoma and papilloma viruses: two separate entities? Am J Obstet Gynecol. 1991;165:329. doi: 10.1016/0002-9378(91)90086-7. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Zimbabwe National Cancer Registry, 2014 Annual Report, Pattern of Cancer in Zimbabwe Harare Sep. 2016; 44–50.
    1. Kajal B, Talati H, Daya D, Alowami S. Apocrine adenocarcinoma of the vulva. Rare Tumors. 2013;5:40. doi: 10.4081/rt.2013.e40. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types