Metastatic carcinoma of the colon similar to Crohn's disease: a case report.

A 68-year-old Japanese man with a history of linitis plastica carcinoma of the stomach and subsequent gastrectomy 8 years previously presented with lower abdominal pain. Radiological and endoscopic examinations showed multiple submucosal nodular lesions similar to Crohn's disease in the ileocecal area. A firm diagnosis could not be made after initial multiple biopsies. Finally, a submucosal biopsy revealed adenocarcinoma. The ileocecal lesion was diagnosed as a recurrence because of the histological findings, which included mucosal preservation, a similarity with the histologic type of stomach carcinoma, and atypical immunoreactivity for primary colon carcinoma; the lesion was negative for both cytokeratin 7 and cytokeratin 20. In cases where metastatic carcinoma of the colon is suspected, we recommend early consideration of a submucosal biopsy.