A Case of Disseminated Carcinomatosa of Bone Marrow from Ascending Colon Cancer

Satoru Nakazawa^*, Hideki Ryo, Kazunari Yoshida, Kazuhiro Akiyama, Yuki Yamashita and Shingo Kameoka^*

Department of Surgery, Shiseikai Second Hospital, ^*Department of Surgery II, Tokyo Women's Medical University

Disseminated carcinomatosis of the bone marrow from colon cancer is extremely rare. We describe a case of ascending colon cancer with liver metastasis. A 57-year-old woman admitted for bowel obstruction with abdominal fullness for a month. We were diagnosed with ascending colon cancer with liver metastasis (H1), so we conducted right hemicolectomy to release obstruction. She reported lumbago and femoral pain a week postoperatively. Bone scintigraphy showed extensive accumulation in the spine, pelvis, and femur. Postoperative week 3s she experienced bleeding and increased myelocytes in the peripheral blood. We conducted spinal aspiration and bone marrow biopsy. A microscopic bone marrow section showed diffusely infiltrative metastatic carcinoma. The patient rapidly worsened due to DIC and died on postoperative 53 days due to intracerebral bleeding. Disseminated carcinomatosis of the bone marrow from well differentiated colon cancer is reported for the first time in the Japanese literature.

Key words
colon cancer, disseminated carcinomatosa of bone marrow, disseminated intravascular coagulation syndrom

Reprint requests
Satoru Nakazawa Department of Surgery II, Tokyo Women Medical University, 8-1 Kawada-cho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 162-8666 JAPAN

Accepted
January 30, 2002

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