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Review
. 2025 Jan 7;18(1):e261160.
doi: 10.1136/bcr-2024-261160.

Sarcomatoid carcinoma of small intestine

Sayed Shahabuddin Hoseini  1 , Xiaoyu Tang  2 , Rajan Dewar  3
Affiliations
Review

Sarcomatoid carcinoma of small intestine

Sayed Shahabuddin Hoseini et al. BMJ Case Rep. .

Abstract

Sarcomatoid carcinoma is a rare type of tumour consisting of neoplastic cells expressing both epithelial and mesenchymal cell markers. The small intestine is a rare site for sarcomatoid carcinoma and to date, a few cases have been reported. In this manuscript, a case of jejunal sarcomatoid carcinoma in a man in his 50s is reported. A review of the literature on sarcomatoid carcinomas of small bowel is presented.

Keywords: Cancer intervention; Immunohistochemistry; Pathology; Small intestine; Small intestine cancer.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Gross and microscopic features of the intestinal sarcomatoid carcinoma. CT scan of the abdomen shows the tumour in the left lower quadrant (A). Gross image (B) and a section of the tumour (C) show a tan creamy texture. H&E staining of the tumour cells is shown (D).
Figure 2
Figure 2. Immunohistochemical staining of the tumour shows positivity for pan-cytokeratin AE1/AE3, Cam5.2, EMA and vimentin. EMA, epithelial membrane antigen.
Figure 3
Figure 3. Proposed mechanisms of carcinosarcomas and sarcomatoid carcinoma tumour development. The collision theory (A) suggests that cancer arises from two separate types of stem cells. In the combination theory (B), both carcinoma and sarcoma components are derived from a common stem cell. The conversion theory (C) suggests that the sarcomatoid component is derived from the carcinoma cells via the process of epithelial to mesenchymal transition. All three theories apply to carcinosarcomas but only the conversion theory fits the definition of sarcomatoid carcinoma. The figure was crafted by SSH using or modified from freely accessible templates provided by Servier Medical Art (https://smart.servier.com/).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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