title: Metastatic colon carcinoma to the jaw: a case report and review of the literature.
abstract: Presented is a case of adenocarcinoma of the cecum metastatic to the anterior mandible. The patient had a Duke's C2 cecal adenocarcinoma resected twenty months prior to her development of loose teeth, jaw pain, and jaw mass. A biopsy of the mass revealed metastatic adenocarcinoma, identical to her primary neoplasm. Metastatic carcinoma to the mandible is a rare event. A review of the literature reveals only nineteen cases of colon carcinoma metastatic to the jaw. When further subdivided, there is only one other case of cecal adenocarcinoma metastasizing to the jaw. Almost half of the other cases have been rectal carcinomas. Treatment of these patients has been uniformly unsuccessful, with life expectancy reported between one and seven months. The literature has shown that 5-FU and radiotherapy may produce palliation of symptoms. The patient presented here responded well to 5-FU and radiotherapy.
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000556:secondary* / Q000628:therapy; D000368:Aged; D002430:Cecal Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008339:Mandibular Neoplasms / Q000556:secondary* / Q000628:therapy