title: Clinical presentation and management of gastro-intestinal and pancreatic secondary metastatic tumors.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  As progress regarding the treatment has occurred over recent years in oncology, more patients with metastatic disease are presented for diagnosis and further management. The purpose of this study was to reveal the incidence, location and to describe the clinical characteristics and outcome in a series of patients diagnosed with pancreatic, small and large bowel metastatic tumors that underwent metastasectomy.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 12 patients (7 male and 5 female) diagnosed with extrahepatic gastrointestinal (GI) and pancreatic metastases from 2001 to 2013 were operated for resection of secondary metastatic tumors to the small and large bowel and the pancreas. Four out of 12 patients were asymptomatic and a secondary tumor was detected during follow up.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The median interval revealing the metastatic tumor since the management of the primary tumor was 6.5 years (range 1-27). Primary tumors were malignant melanoma (4 patients), renal cell carcinoma (RCC; 2 patients), leiomyosarcoma of the uterus (2 patients), lobular breast cancer, mesenchymal chondrosarcoma of the skull, endometrial adenocarcinoma and a non-Hodgkin lymphoma (one case each). The median follow-up was 15 months (range 4-120).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Metastatic secondary tumors have to be considered especially when the patient's medical history includes a previous malignancy. They may also occasionally present as the initial manifestation of an occult primary lesion leading to diagnostic difficulty. Although radical surgery is the most effective approach, treatment and survival grossly depend on histological type and the stage of the primary disease. Hence, management of these patients should be individualized by a multidisciplinary team.
authors.affiliation: 2nd Department of Surgery, "Aretaieio" Hospital, University of Athens Medical School, Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Georgios P
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Fragulidis
authors.forename: Antonios
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vezakis
authors.forename: Konstantinos
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Chondrogiannis
authors.forename: Argyro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mellou
authors.forename: Aikaterini
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Melemeni
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Polydorou
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005770:Gastrointestinal Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D059146:Metastasectomy; D008875:Middle Aged; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy