Cerebrovascular complications of mucinous cancers

Six patients with mucinous cancer (2 colonic, 2 pancreatic, and 2 pulmonary origin) had necropsy evidence of thrombosis of large and small systemic, extracranial, and intracranial arteries and veins, and multiple cerebral infarcts and small hemorrhages. On microscopic examination, we found small infarcts and hemorrhages within the brain and mucin within vessels, macrophages, and in areas of infarction. The clinical picture included strokes and encephalopathy. Mucin-producing cancers can be associated with a coagulopathy that causes extensive occlusive vascular disease.