Disseminated epithelial cancers-An autopsy analysis

Cancer is one of the leading causes of death due to noncommunicable diseases worldwide. Despite increasing public awareness and availability of sophisticated imaging techniques, some cancers evade clinical diagnosis and/or are incidentally encountered at autopsies, often with dissemination.

The present study evaluated the disseminated epithelial cancers at autopsy.

This is a retrospective observational 5-year autopsy analysis of disseminated epithelial cancers performed at a tertiary-care hospital. The cases were categorized as (1) clinically diagnosed malignancy, known primary; (2) clinically diagnosed malignancy, unknown primary; and (3) clinically undiagnosed malignancy.

Nil.

Dissemination was identified in 66 (57.9%) of the 114 patients with epithelial malignancies. There were 29 patients (43.9%) in category 1, 26 patients (39.4%) in category 2, and 11 patients (16.7%) in category 3, majority of whom were women (38 patients, 57.6%). When all categories were considered together, lung and colorectal carcinomas were the commonest cancers seen in 13 (19.7%) and 8 (12.1%) patients, respectively, in both men and women. Majority of the patients (43 cases, 65.2%) had symptoms produced by metastases, which were the sole manifestations in 13 patients (19.7%). Lungs and liver were the common metastatic sites.

Cancerous dissemination continues to be a major cause of morbidity and mortality even after considerable improvements in the surgical or nonsurgical treatment modalities. An autopsy study can provide important clinical insights in retrospect.