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Review
. 2019 Apr 5;19(1):320.
doi: 10.1186/s12885-019-5549-9.

Successful resection of pancreatic metastasis from oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma: a case report and review of the literature

Wataru Koizumi  1 , Minoru Kitago  2 , Masahiro Shinoda  1 , Hiroshi Yagi  1 , Yuta Abe  1 , Go Oshima  1 , Shutaro Hori  1 , Kenta Inomata  1 , Hirofumi Kawakubo  1 , Miho Kawaida  3 , Yuko Kitagawa  1
Affiliations
Review

Successful resection of pancreatic metastasis from oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma: a case report and review of the literature

Wataru Koizumi et al. BMC Cancer. .

Abstract

Background: Oesophageal cancer has a high metastatic potential and poor prognosis, with a significant risk of recurrence after radical resection. However, resected pancreatic metastasis from oesophageal cancer is rare.

Case presentation: Eleven years prior, a seventy-year-old woman had been treated with transthoracic radical oesophagectomy for oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Four years prior, she had undergone chemotherapy for lymph node recurrence at the splenic hilum and achieved a partial response. She had also received chemoradiotherapy for lymph node recurrence at the splenic hilum 3 years prior; a complete response was achieved. However, routine follow-up with abdominal computed tomography recently revealed a tumour at the pancreatic tail and swollen lymph nodes. The patient underwent distal pancreatectomy on the basis of a pre-operative diagnosis of primary pancreatic cancer, although a histological examination of the surgical specimen revealed metastatic squamous cell carcinoma that was compatible with metachronous pancreatic metastasis from oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma. The patient has been undergoing clinical follow-up without adjuvant therapy and has been disease-free for 24 months after resection of the pancreatic metastasis.

Conclusions: Resection of pancreatic metastasis may improve prognosis and should be considered when treating patients with solitary metastasis from oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Keywords: Isolated metastasis; Oesophageal cancer; Pancreas; Pancreatic metastasis.

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Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

This study was approved by the ethics committee of the Keio University School of Medicine.

Consent for publication

Written informed consent was obtained from the patient for the publication of this case report and accompanying images.

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
Lymph node recurrence. Lymph node recurrence (white arrows) was detected at the splenic hilum 1 year after chemotherapy
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Pre-operative computed tomography findings. Pre-operative computed tomography imaging detected a an adherent mass at the pancreatic tail and b a tumour above the mass
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
a Pre-operative endoscopic ultrasonography/retrograde pancreatography findings. Pre-operative endoscopic ultrasonography detected an adherent mass at the pancreatic tail; b endoscopic retrograde pancreatography revealed narrowing of the main pancreatic duct in the pancreatic tail
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Positron emission tomography/computed tomography findings. Positron emission tomography/computed tomography revealed a high standardised uptake value of 4.69 in the pancreatic tail mass (white arrows)
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Macroscopic examination. Macroscopic evaluation revealed a whitish tumour (measuring 29 × 22 × 30 mm) in the pancreatic tail
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
Microscopic examination. Microscopic examination of squamous cells resembling oesophageal carcinoma resected 11 years prior showed that the pancreas exhibited a fibrous change in the background of the carcinoma
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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