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CASE REPORT
Jejunal perforation: an unusual presentation of metastatic cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) in an immunosuppressed patient
  1. N Hitchen1,
  2. D Warnapala2,
  3. R M Fisher3,
  4. J Dua,
  5. P Pratsou,
  6. A Freebairn4
  1. 1John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, Oxfordshire, UK
  2. 2Milton Keynes Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Milton Keynes, UK
  3. 3Department of Dermatology, Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust, Reading, UK
  4. 4Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust, Reading, UK
  1. Correspondence to Dr D Warnapala, dilshanw1989{at}gmail.com

Summary

We report the rare occurrence of a small bowel perforation secondary to a metastatic cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC). A 70-year-old woman, who had previously undergone renal transplantation, presented with severe, sudden-onset abdominal pain. She was peritonitic on initial examination, with evidence of free intra-abdominal air on radiographic imaging. During an exploratory laparotomy, she was found to have a perforated jejunum secondary to disseminated metastases seen throughout her peritoneum. Following histopathological analysis, as well as further imaging studies, the primary malignancy was eventually identified as a cSCC on her upper back. Palliative care was started and the patient died 8 weeks following her initial presentation.

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Footnotes

  • N Hitchin and D Wamapala are co-first authors

  • Contributors NH, DW, RF, JD, PP and AF were involved in conception and design, acquisition and analysis/interpretation of data, drafting the article, revising the article critically and final approval of the manuscript.

  • Competing interests None declared.

  • Patient consent Obtained.

  • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.