[Colon cancer with portal vein tumor thrombosis-a case report and review of the literature].

Colon cancer with portal vein tumor thrombosis has a poor prognosis. However, little is known about the clinicopathological characteristics of these patients. In this study, we attempted to clarify the clinicopathological characteristics of such patients reported in the Japanese literature, including our own case. This case concerns a 48-year-old female patient diagnosed as having transverse colon cancer with severe portal vein tumor thrombosis. Despite curative resection, the patient was found to have multiple liver metastases six months later, and chemotherapy did not prove to be adequately effective; she died 18 months after surgery. A search of the relevant literature revealed 9 reports of similar patients. The patients consisted of 4 males and 6 synchronous cases, with a median age of 70 years. Portal vein tumor thrombosis was observed in 6 patients. While the portal vein was the most frequent site of thrombosis, other patients showed tumor thrombosis of the superior and inferior mesenteric veins. Despite curative resection, 3 patients eventually developed liver metastases after the operation. The median disease-free survival of the patients who had undergone curative resection was 300 days, and the overall median survival of the patients was 420 days. Thus, for the portal vein tumor thrombosis, we need to adopt adjuvant chemotherapy in consideration of a high risk for the liver metastases.