Orbital metastasis from anorectal carcinoma

Abstract

Pulmonary and liver metastases are common sites of distant metastasis from the rectal carcinoma. Metastases to the head and neck region are uncommon from carcinoma of the rectum, and orbital metastases are extremely rare. Here, we describe a 27-year-old female, who was diagnosed as a case of anorectal carcinoma in April 2010. She underwent abdominoperineal resection followed by concurrent chemoradiotherapy and adjuvant chemotherapy with 5 fluorouracil and leucovorin on follow-up. In January 2012, she presented with gradually increasing swelling over the left temporal region and left sided proptosis. Fine-needle aspiration and a cell block were performed. Metastasis was confirmed histologically. Palliative radiotherapy to the left orbit at the dose of 3 Gy per fraction 10 fractions to a total dose of 30 Gy was given by cobalt-60. In patients with a history of rectal carcinoma, recent onset proptosis with temporal swelling, although rare, should raise suspicion of metastatic deposit.

Keywords

Anorectal carcinoma / distant metastasis / orbital metastasis

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