Metastatic clear cell endometrial carcinoma: an unusual cause of a common clinical presentation

Abstract

A 60-year-old woman presented with melena for 2 weeks. She had undergone hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy to treat clear cell endometrial carcinoma 10 months before the presentation. She was anaemic and tachycardic; abdominal CT scan revealed a large duodenal mass. Her gastrointestinal bleed was not amenable to endoscopic intervention, so she had emergent laparotomy, pancreaticoduodenectomy with duodenal mass excision. Histopathology confirmed that the duodenal mass was a metastatic deposit from her clear cell endometrial cancer. Postoperatively, she was frail and chose hospice care and she died 90 days postoperatively. Clear cell endometrial cancer is a rare subtype of endometrial cancer, that has a worse prognosis compared with the more common endometrioid subtype. The duodenum is a rare site for metastatic endometrial cancer, and we report this case to alert clinicians to the possibility of metastases to the small intestine in patients with clear cell endometrial cancer.