Metastatic cutaneous leiomyosarcoma from primary neoplasm of the mesentery

Rare case of primary leiomyosarcoma of sigmoid mesocolon

We experienced a rare case of primary leiomyosarcoma of sigmoid mesentery. A 45-year-old woman was presented to us with left iliac fossa mass and discomfort for 4-month duration. CT scan of abdomen and pelvis revealed a huge mass 14 cm×14 cm×16 cm occupying left iliac fossa mimicked having a large left ovarian carcinoma. She was subsequently planned for elective total abdominal hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy by gynaecology team. During laparotomy, a huge mass was revealed arising from sigmoid mesentery invaded to the left lower ureter. Curative resection was done and pathological findings show the tumour being leiomyosarcoma with immunohistochemistry tests on caldesmon, desmin, smooth muscle actin and CD34 reagent all positive. Clinicopathological and literature review of this rare primary leiomyosarcoma of mesocolon was discussed in our case presentation.

Metastatic mesenteric dedifferentiated leiomyosarcoma: a case report and a review of literature

Background

Abdominal leiomyosarcoma arising from the mesentery is a rare malignancy. It is an aggressive entity with an overall 5 year survival rate between 20 and 30 %. Surgical resection is the cornerstone of primary treatment and may be curative for localized disease. However, patients often develop intra-abdominal relapse and/or metastatic disease. If surgical resection is not feasible, palliative chemotherapy is the treatment of choice. However, there are no clear guidelines regarding chemotherapy; neither in the adjuvant nor advanced setting.

Case presentation

We present a 40 year-old woman, with a mesenteric leiomyosarcoma, who underwent radical tumor resection and did not receive adjuvant oncological therapy. Three months postoperatively, she developed metastatic disease to the lungs and liver. After multidisciplinary assessment she received an unconventional histological-subtype-tailored chemotherapy comprising 3–4 regimens. Initially, there was a decrease both in number and size of metastases. Ultimately, an almost complete radiological response was seen. Subsequent surgical resection and radiofrequency ablation of residual metastatic foci in the liver and lung brought her into complete clinical remission. She is presently tumor free, 36 months following diagnosis of metastatic disease.

Conclusions

To our knowledge, this is the first report of a patient with metastatic mesenteric leiomyosarcoma who is in complete clinical and radiological long-term remission following very aggressive multimodal treatment; including intense poly-drug chemotherapy and without any demonstrable long-term side effects. Given the rarity of mesenteric leiomyosarcoma and lack of guidelines regarding oncological therapy, we suggest that multimodal therapy including aggressive chemotherapy, guided by a multidisciplinary team, is essential to achieve an optimal outcome.

Cutaneous metastases from internal malignancies: a clinicopathologic and immunohistochemical review

Skin metastases occur in 0.6%-10.4% of all patients with cancer and represent 2% of all skin tumors. Skin metastases from visceral malignancies are important for dermatologists and dermatopathologists because of their variable clinical appearance and presentation, frequent delay and failure in their diagnosis, relative proportion of different internal malignancies metastasizing to the skin, and impact on morbidity, prognosis, and treatment. Another factor to take into account is that cutaneous metastasis may be the first sign of clinically silent visceral cancer. The relative frequencies of metastatic skin disease tend to correlate with the frequency of the different types of primary cancer in each sex. Thus, women with skin metastases have the following distribution in decreasing order of frequency of primary malignancies: breast, ovary, oral cavity, lung, and large intestine. In men, the distribution is as follows: lung, large intestine, oral cavity, kidney, breast, esophagus, pancreas, stomach, and liver. A wide morphologic spectrum of clinical appearances has been described in cutaneous metastases. This variable clinical morphology included nodules, papules, plaques, tumors, and ulcers. From a histopathologic point of view, there are 4 main morphologic patterns of cutaneous metastases involving the dermis, namely, nodular, infiltrative, diffuse, and intravascular. Generally, cutaneous metastases herald a poor prognosis. The average survival time of patients with skin metastases is a few months. In this article, we review the clinicopathologic and immunohistochemical characteristics of cutaneous metastases from internal malignancies, classify the most common cutaneous metastases, and identify studies that may assist in diagnosing the origin of a cutaneous metastasis.

Complete surgical resection of a 40-cm leiomyosarcoma of the large bowel mesentery

INTRODUCTION

Leiomyosarcoma of the large bowel mesentery is a rare entity and characteristically behaves in an aggressive fashion. Surgical resection is the mainstay of treatment and offers both symptomatic and therapeutic benefit.

CASE

We describe the case of a 55-year-old woman who presented with weight loss, increasing abdominal girth and a large solid inhomogenous mass within the abdomen and pelvis demonstrated on a computed tomography (CT) scan. The patient underwent an exploratory laparotomy and extensive tumor debulking procedure with complete resection of her tumor. Final pathology revealed leiomyosarcoma of the large bowel mesentery. The patient has chosen not to receive adjuvant therapy.

CONCLUSIONS

Leiomyosarcoma of the large bowel mesentery often presents as an advanced lesion making surgical resection a challenging and potentially morbid procedure. Although surgical resection may be faced with significant morbidity, maximum surgical effort with complete resection offers the best overall outcome for patients with this disease.