Case Report

Unusual sized cecal mass presenting without obstruction: a case report

Ali R Elyassi¹ , Kevin Lin-Hurtubise² and Ronald Gagliano³

¹  Postgraduate Resident Year2, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Tripler Army Medical Center, Honolulu, HI, USA

²  Professor and Surgical Oncologist, Department of Surgery, Tripler Army Medical Center, Honolulu, HI, USA

³  Program Chief, Department of Surgery, Tripler Army Medical Center, Honolulu, HI, USA

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Cases Journal 2009, 2:131doi:10.1186/1757-1626-2-131

Published:	6 February 2009

Abstract

Background

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a common and lethal disease with thousands of new cases of large bowel cancer diagnosed in the United States each year. Colorectal cancer frequently causes obstruction of the large bowel. Cases of obstructions and perforations have been documented with masses well below 6 cm in diameter. Obstruction and/or perforation are important predictors of prognosis with respect to colorectal carcinomas.

Case Presentation

The following is the presentation of an unusual case of a 13 × 12 × 16 cm colonic adenocarcinoma without any signs of obstruction or perforation.

Conclusion

Perioperative mortality rates for colorectal cancer with obstruction have been documented anywhere from 5% to 47.6%, making obstruction an important predictive factor in long-term patient survival. Although a correlation between obstruction and patient outcome has been determined, a correlation between colorectal tumor size/staging and obstruction has yet to be investigated.