[Linitis plastica of the digestive tract. A case with involvement of the stomach and rectum]

The digestive linitis plastica is a special form of the little differentiate adenocarcinoma that can reach all the segments of the digestive tube, if the gastric localization is the most frequent, the double gastric and rectal localization is rare (7%) either is simultaneous or successive. The pathologic examination arrives only at the diagnostic of the digestive linitis without biasing against its primitive and secondary character. We report a case of this association in order to focus the importance of search and difficulty of the histologic diagnosis. Mis H.N., aged of 69 years old was hospitalized because she was reached of subocclusive syndrome, the rectal touch, found a circumferential marrowing with indurated basis at 7 cm of the anal margin, the gastroduodenal transit and the high digestive fibroscopy were evokating of a total plastic linitis. The gastric biopsy confirmed the diagnosis by the presence of cells ou kitten ring. The patients died during the hospitalization, the pathologic study of the postmortem rectal swab showed the existence of a rectal linitis. The discovery of a gastric linitis makes necessary a systematic, endoscopic and radiologic complete physical examination in order to discover other digestive localizations, this darkens singularly the prognosis and complicates the therapeutic attitude.