[Intestinal bleeding and obstruction in the small intestine caused by metastatic thyroid angiosarcoma. Case report]

The authors present a case of a primary angiosarcoma of the thyroid gland with an intestinal metastasis. The 59-year-old female patient with tarry stool and anemia was referred to the outpatient hospital. Her past history included a thyroid "cold" nodule. Gastroscopy and colonoscopy failed to identify the origin of gastrointestinal bleeding, however, capsule endoscopy verified synchronous tumors in the small intestine. The distal tumor showed signs of bleeding and caused bowel obstruction. An urgent operation was performed and the tumorous part of the ileum was resected. Histology of the removed specimen indicated cleft-like spaces in the mucosa with CD31+ epithelial cells. Pathological report described metastatic epithelial angiosarcoma with an unknown origin. Before chemotherapy the patient underwent total thyroidectomy and histology confirmed malignancy similar to that found in the intestinal surgical specimens. This case seems particularly interesting, because bleeding from intestinal metastasis leaded to the diagnosis of the primary tumor located in the thyroid gland.