A case of early gastric cancer with bone metastases: are bone marrow micrometastases significant ?

Gastric adenocarcinoma is currently the 14th cause of death worldwide. Early gastric cancer, defined as cancer not penetrating deeper than the submucosa, is considered to carry an excellent prognosis with 5-year survival rates reaching more than 90%. Cases of bone metastases due to intramucosal gastric cancer are very rarely described. A case of a 70-year old male presenting with confirmed bone metastases 7 years after a curative resection for a mucosal gastric carcinoma is discussed. The patient was investi- gated with bone marrow biopsy and bone scan and showed no other signs of disease. The clinicopathologic features included poor differentiation, signet ring cells presence, no lymph node involvement and a negative second laparotomy two years after the initial surgery. Studies concerning the presence of residual disease in the form of bone marrow micrometastases are briefly reviewed emphasizing that intramucosal gastric cancer still carries the pos- sibility for metastasis, many years after a curative resection, man- dating long term alertness from the attending physician. (Acta gastroenterol. belg., 2006, 69, 231-234).