Small invasive colon cancer with systemic metastasis: a case report

Recently, especially in Japan, several researchers have suggested that colorectal cancer can develop not only through an adenoma-carcinoma sequence but also from normal mucosa via a de novo pathway, and that these de novo cancers have more aggressive malignant potential. We report a case of aggressive colon cancer resulting in systemic metastasis despite small tumour size.

A 35-year-old woman presented at the referring hospital with swelling of the left cervical lymph node. Biopsy of the lymph node revealed metastatic adenocarcinoma; however, CT scan and mammography were unable to identify the site of the primary lesion. She was diagnosed with unknown primary cancer and referred to our hospital for further examination. Immunohistochemical reevaluation showed the cervical lymph node biopsy specimen to be positive for CDX2 and CK20 and negative for CK7 expression, leading us to suspect the presence of a primary colorectal cancer. We performed a total colonoscopy, and detected a small protruding lesion in the transverse colon. The tumour was only 12 mm in diameter, with a central depressed component and a severely thickened stalk, which suggested direct cancer invasion of the deep submucosa. We concluded that this lesion was the site of origin of the metastasis despite the small tumour size, and performed diagnostic endoscopic mucosal resection. The lesion was found to have an intramucosal cancer component, demonstrating that this lesion represented primary colon cancer. The patient was referred to the gastrointestinal oncology division for systemic chemotherapy.

In this case, immunohistochemical findings strongly suggested the existence of a colorectal cancer. The non-polypoid gross appearance of the tumour suggested that it can originate de novo , thus providing a valuable case in support of the aggressive malignant potential of a de novo colorectal cancer pathway.