Urticarial vasculitis as an initial manifestation of colonic carcinoma: a case report and review of the literature

Abstract

Cutaneous vasculitis may behave as a paraneoplastic syndrome. Paraneoplastic vasculitis as a phenomenon of colonic adenocarcinoma has been described in the literature. To the best of my knowledge, this is the first case report of urticarial vasculitis being an initial presentation of signet-ring cell carcinoma of the colon. I here report a case of 27-year-old woman who had rash, arthritis, and episodic bleeding per rectum. The rash was biopsy-proven to be leukocytoclastic vasculitis. There was only partial response to high-dose steroid, and rectal bleeding continued. Colonoscopy revealed a stenosing growth of sigmoid colon, which proved to be signet ring cell carcinoma of the colon. It is important to remain vigilant with regard to the association between leukocytoclastic vasculitis and malignancies.