A Case of Metachronous Splenic Metastasis from Gastric Cancer

Hiroyuki Kasajima, Satoko Morohashi, Takaaki Yoshizaki, Susumu Ohishi, Hiroshi Tateoka, Mitsuru Ino, Masaru Takeuchi and Takao Tanaka

Department of Surgery, Odate Municipal Hospital

A 70-year-old man underwent total gastrectomy with lymph node dissection (D1+α) under a diagnosis of multiple gastric cancers in September 2000. Abdominal computed tomography showed a solitary splenic tumor about 10 cm in diameter in October 2002, necessitating TS-1 therapy. Closer examination showed no metastatic lesion in other organs, so we conducted surgery under a diagnosis of solitary metastasis to the spleen from gastric cancer in February 2003; i.e. splenectomy with resection of the diaphragm. Histopathological examination showed moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma of the spleen, histologically compatible with metastasis from gastric cancer. He remains recurrence-free a year later. Cancer rarely metastasizes to the spleen except in terminal status. Radical surgery is thus recommended for gastric carcinoma patients who have metachronous splenic metastasis.

Key words
gastric carcinoma, splenic tumor, metachronous metastasis

Reprint requests
Hiroyuki Kasajima Department of Surgery, Odate municipal hospital
3-1 Yutaka-machi, Odate-shi, 017-8550 JAPAN

Accepted
June 30, 2004

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