Combined adenocarcinoma-carcinoid tumor of transverse colon

A 65-year-old male presented with painless hematochezia associated with episodic cramps in upper abdomen, watery diarrhea, and a slowly growing mass in upper abdomen. Examination revealed a firm 6 x 5 cm, intra-abdominal, epigastric mass. Colonoscopy up to 90 cm showed a stenosing, ulcero-proliferative lesion in the transverse colon. No synchronous lesion was detected. Biopsy revealed mucin secreting adenocarcinoma. Exploration showed the growth involving the transverse colon proximal to the splenic flexure with a part of ileum, approximately three feet proximal to ileo-caecal junction, adherent to it. No significant mesenteric lymph node enlargement was evident. The patient underwent resection of the growth along with the segment of adherent ileum. Continuity was re-established by a colo-colic and ileo-ileal anastomosis respectively. Patient received adjuvant chemotherapy. Post-operative histopathology demonstrated a composite histological pattern with an admixture of carcinoid tumor and adenocarcinoma, invasion of ileal serosa and adenocarcinomatous deposits in mesocolic lymph nodes, the tumor staging being (T4, N0, M0/Stage II) for carcinoid and (T4, N1, M0/Stage III) for adenocarcinoma. Patient was followed-up for a year and was doing well without any evidence of recurrence.