[A case of lynch syndrome treated laparoscopically for multiple colon cancers]

Lynch syndrome is an inherited syndrome associated with the development of colorectal, endometrial, stomach, and other cancers; it is caused by defects in the mismatch repair genes. Such patients are at risk of developing multiple abdominal cancers after colectomy, and the presence of adhesions may render future abdominal surgeries difficult. We recommend that patients with Lynch syndrome should be considered good candidates for laparoscopic surgery. A 43-year-old Japanese man was admitted following a positive fecal occult blood test result. The patient was diagnosed with multiple colon cancers in the right colon. He had undergone endoscopic mucosal resection for a colon polyp when he was 24 years of age. Two people among his father's second-degree relatives had colorectal cancer, and he fulfilled the revised Bethesda guidelines. He underwent laparoscopic-assisted right hemicolectomy and D3 lymph node dissection. Microsatellite instability testing indicated the presence of MSI-H, and genetic testing demonstrated a pathogenic mutation of MLH-1.