An unusual case of gastric carcinoma initially presenting bone metastasis and later transverse myelopathy

A 44-year-old man with Borrmann type III gastric carcinoma initially presenting bone metastasis and later transverse myelopathy is reported. Chest and skull roentgenograms showed multiple punched-out lesions. A bone scintigram showed multiple abnormal uptake. Histological examinations of biopsy and autopsy materials revealed signet-ring cell carcinoma of the stomach. Disseminated carcinomatosis of the bone marrow was ruled out histologically and neither microangiopathic hemolytic anemia nor disseminated intravascular coagulopathy was observed. Because this patient with bone metastasis did not have metastasis to the liver and lungs we propose that a nonportal route through the vertebral venous plexus might be an alternative to the portal route of bone metastasis from gastric carcinoma. During the last 20 years, only 10 such cases including this one have been reported in Japan. Their prognosis was quite poor and in most of them the malignancy was either undifferentiated adenocarcinoma or signet-ring cell carcinoma. If a bone metastasis is found as the initial sign, physicians should keep in mind that the primary lesion might be in the stomach, or in the thyroid, kidney, lung or prostate as another point of search.