Duodenal mucinous adenocarcinoma presenting as ileus, obstructive jaundice and massive ascites: A case report

Duodenal mucinous adenocarcinoma (DMA) is a malignancy with a rather low morbidity. However, its incidence in China has not been clearly determined. We herein report a case of a 70-year-old female patient who presented with ileus, obstructive jaundice and massive ascites simultaneously. Gastroendoscopy revealed copious amounts of colloidal mucin in the gastric cavity. The neoplasm was not visualized on computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging, and an exploratory laparotomy was performed to investigate the abdomen. During the operation, the anterior wall of the gastric antrum was incised to explore the first and second portions of the duodenum, as well as the gastric lumen, and a neoplasm sized ~2.0 cm was identified at the antimesenteric border of the duodenal bulb after clearing the colloidal mucin content of the stomach and duodenum. Gastrojejunostomy rather than radical resection was performed due to the poor condition of the patient. The postoperative histopathological examination of the colloidal substance removed from the duodenal cavity revealed mucinous adenocarcinoma. On immunohistochemical analysis, the tissue stained positive for pan-cytokeratin, cytokeratin 19, CDX-2, carcinoembryonic antigen and Ki-67 (8%), and negative for excision repair-1. The general condition of the patient postoperatively was poor; thus, adjuvant chemotherapy was not administered and the patient finally succumbed to the disease 42 days after surgery.