Metastatic colon cancer mimicking Crohn's disease

A 66-year-old Japanese woman presented with intestinal obstruction and right-sided hydronephrosis. Although upper gastrointestinal endoscopy demonstrated signet-ring cell gastric carcinoma, colonoscopy and barium enema study yielded findings mimicking Crohn's disease in the colon, that is, skipping longitudinal ulcer scarlike strictures, cobblestone appearance, segmental stricture, and pseudosacculations. After total gastrectomy and right-sided hemicolectomy, the final diagnosis of gastric cancer extensively involving the colon, and not of Crohn's disease complicating gastric cancer, was established. Pathologic examination showed that anaplastic cancer with exuberant desmoplastic reaction and infiltration along the mesenteric border principally accounted for the morphological similarities noted between Crohn's disease and metastatic colon cancer in this case. The findings in the present case, together with a review of the literature, suggest that metastatic colon cancer should be considered when Crohn-like colonic findings are encountered, not only in individuals with concurrent cancer in other sites but also in those with distant history of cancer.