Second jejunal loop adenocarcinoma associated with celiac disease: the first case report

Jejunal adenocarcinoma is a very rare disease but the frequency of this rare carcinoma is higher in celiac patients. We report the first case report of a second jejunal loop adenocarcinoma associated with celiac disease.

A 47-year-old woman, with a history of celiac disease. Computerized tomographic scans of the abdomen and pelvis demonstrated a severe retroperitoneal lymphoadenopathy, para-aortic, inter-aorto-caval, porto-caval, posterior pancreaticoduodenal space, celiac trunk, lesser gastric curvature, lymph node grouping. The patient underwent digiunal resection and regional lymphadenectomy. Diagnosis was poorly differentiated jejunal adenocarcinoma, infiltrating subserosal adipose tissue, metastasing in five out of eight regional lymph nodes. U.I.C.C. 2017 grading = pT3 pN2 G3 R0; Stage IIIB.

The jejunum accounts for 11-25% of small bowel adenocarcinoma, that accounts for less than 5% of gastrointestinal cancer, notwithstanding that 90% of the mucosa surface area of the digestive tract is made by small intestine. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on a second loop jejunal adenocarcinoma complicating celiac disease. In our study, the diagnosis of cancer was made by computed tomography (CT) of abdomen and the patient was operated. For the diagnosis of small bowel tumour, CT enteroclysis has a sensitivity of 85-95% and a specificity of 90-96%. Complete resection (RO) of the jejunal adenocarcinoma, with regional lymph nodes resection and jejuno-jejunal anastomosis should be performed.

After curative surgical resections of small bowel adenocarcinoma, adjuvant chemo-therapy has not shown a clear benefit in retrospective studies. Preoperative Chemo-Radio-therapy and careful Imaging Staging are the first steps to planning surgery.