Intestinal Endometriosis and Colorectal Cancer versus T4 Colorectal Cancer

It is difficult, although not impossible, to differentiate between intestinal endometriosis with colorectal cancer and T4 colorectal cancer.

Key Points

Highlights:

• This is a report that follows 7 Japanese women who have intestinal endometriosis and colorectal cancer.

Importance:

• Intestinal endometriosis may be confused with advanced ncbi.nlm.nih.gov colorectal cancer, where there is peritoneal involvement or there is an invasion of adjacent organs. Thus, it is essential to identify the exact infliction in cases of bowel obstruction. This will allow health care providers the opportunity to more effectively treat the disease.

What’s done here?

• The patients were preoperatively interviewed about symptoms.
• A colonoscopy was performed in order to reveal the presence of masses.
• Patients underwent a computed tomography (CT) scan in order to intestine wall thickening.
• All participants underwent a laparoscopic surgery.
• Of the seven cases, five had colorectal endometriosis with colorectal cancer that ultimately resulted in bowel obstruction.

Key results:

• Health care providers ought to know that bowel obstruction can be caused by intestinal endometriosis.
• Laparoscopic surgery for colorectal resection ought to be used because it is a great diagnostic tool for T4. It can also preserve fertility and reduce surgical stress.
• In the case studies, it was still difficult to diagnose between intestinal endometriosis with colorectal cancer versus T4.

Limitations of the study:

• There were a limited number of participants in the study.
• The participants were all from on geographic area of the world, which limits the global application of the results.

Lay Summary

Ishii et al. recently published a paper titled “Intestinal endometriosis combined with colorectal cancer: a case series” in the Journal of Medical Case Reports.

This case report follows 7 Japanese women who have intestinal endometriosis and colorectal cancer. These women were interviewed before the operation. This interview revealed the various symptoms felt by these participants.

The participants were also subject to colonoscopies, and computed tomography (CT) scans. All the patients were required to undergo laparoscopic surgery.

Of the seven women included in the study, 5 had intestinal endometriosis and colorectal cancer, which looks very similar to T4(advanced)colorectal cancer, cancer that has peritoneal involvement or cancer where the adjacent organs are invaded.

Since the two are so similar, it is essential for healthcare providers who are faced with bowel obstruction in women to consider both possibilities and diagnose accordingly. The authors recommend laparoscopic surgery for colorectal resection.

This method is an excellent diagnostic tool for T4, preserves fertility, and reduces surgical stress.

In the end, it was discovered that it is tough to separate diagnosis of intestinal endometriosis with colorectal cancer from T4.

Research Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29378641