Late recurrence of gastric cancer in the ovary and uterine cervix

Uterine cervical metastasis from gastric cancer is relatively rare. This is a report of an extremely rare instance of concurrent late gastric-cancer recurrence to the left ovary and the uterine cervix, 11 years after initial treatment. A 53-year-old woman was referred to our hospital with continuous abdominal pain and genital bleeding. Eleven years prior, she had been treated for gastric cancer, pathologically confirmed as stage II poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma with signet-ring cell carcinoma (pT2N1M0). Magnetic resonance imaging results showed a solid mass in the left ovary, about 8 cm in diameter, fixed to the enlarged uterus and displaying slightly high intensity on T1-weighted images and uneven low intensity and enhanced hypervascular areas on T2-weighted images. Cervical biopsy revealed small, round, spindle-shaped tumor cells beneath a normal cervical epithelium. When we did the immunohistochemistry tests, the tumor cells were positive for cytokeratin 5.2, cytokeratin anion exchange protein 1/3, and cytokeratin 7; the cells were negative for cytokeratin 20 and paired-box gene (PAX) 8. This marker pattern was the same as that of her previous gastric cancer; therefore, the tumors of the cervix and left ovary were diagnosed as metastatic gastric cancer. After obtaining informed consent, the patient received transarterial chemoembolization using cisplatin and, subsequently, underwent a modified radical hysterectomy, bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy. Pathological examination revealed an infiltrative pattern with poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma and signet-ring cell carcinoma. The patient received combination chemotherapy with cisplatin and S-1, and she is currently alive 12 months after surgery with no evidence of recurrence. Late recurrence more than 10 years after treatment for primary gastric cancer is extremely rare. Clinicians should be aware of the possibility of metastasis from extrapelvic carcinomas, even in patients treated many years prior to presentation.