Jejunal adenocarcinoma: still an elusive diagnosis. Case report and review of the literature.

Tumours arising in the small bowel are rare, accounting for less then 2% of all gastrointestinal neoplasms. Adenocarcinoma accounts for 40% of small bowel malignancies. They are rarely considered as a differential diagnosis, and their discovery is usually greeted with surprise. We present a case in which aspecific symptoms of this neoplasm, non-informative instrumental examinations and a coexisting hiatal hernia led to the misdiagnosis of reflux disease until a complication such as abdominal occlusion occurred. To the best of our knowledge this is the second case in the literature in which a jejunal adenocarcinoma mimicked a gastro-oesophageal reflux disease and delayed the correct diagnosis.