title: Fulminant metastatic spread in a patient with an early gastric cancer.
abstract: A patient with an early gastric cancer was treated initially by endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) at our hospital. The resected specimen showed a depth of submucosal infiltration of more than 500 microm. Therefore, in accordance with the extended criteria with regard to EMR, the patient underwent gastrectomy. The TNM stage was pT1 (sm3), pN0 (0 / 58), cM0, L0, V0, G2 after surgery (UICC stage Ia). At 3 months later ultrasound revealed a new mass in the liver, and biopsy showed a rapidly growing metastasis of the gastric adenocarcinoma. Finally, immunohistochemical analysis of all the lymph nodes of the resected stomach revealed a micrometastasis (3mm) directly under the ESD site. The patient died 6 months later. This clinical case highlights the risk of affected lymph nodes in early gastric cancer and the consequent risk of metastasis which increases with greater depth of infiltration to the submucosa.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Central Hospital Augsburg, Augsburg D-86156, Germany. walterbenjamin@gmx.net
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Walter
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Probst
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Märkl
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wagner
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Anthuber
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Messmann
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery*; D000368:Aged; D005743:Gastrectomy; D005773:Gastroscopy; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019060:Minimally Invasive Surgical Procedures; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery*