Primary adenocarcinoma of the jejunum and ileum. A clinicopathologic study.

The clinical and pathologic features of 43 primary adenacarcinomas of the small intestine (32 jejunal and 11 ileal) are reported. Seventy-four percent of the patients presented with partial or complete small bowel obstruction, 56% complained of abdominal pain, 37% had symptoms of anemia (weakness, easy fatigability), and 35% had lost weight. Anemic hemoglobin levels occurred in 69%, and a palpable abdominal mass in 25%. Treatment consisted of a "curative" or "palliative" resection, or a bypass procedure. Seventy-nine percent of the tumors showed an annular, constricting pattern, while the remaining 21% had a predominantly fungating or polypoid appearance. Three individuals currently free of clinical recurrence have been followed less than 5 years. Of the remaining 40 patients, a 5-year cure was achieved in 11 (28%), including 6 (15%) who at present have no recurrence and 5 (13%) who subsequently died of other causes. Within 5 years, 28 of these 40 patients (70%) were known or presumed dead tumor, and 1 had succumbed to other causes (2%). Various pathologic features were correlated with the clinical course. Documented lymph node metastasis proved to be the most valuable prognostic finding, 88% of these individuals dying of tumor, as contrasted to 45% of those with tumor-free nodes. A few cases of superficially invasive carcinoma found in an otherwise benign adenomatous lesion had a good prognosis when symptoms were produced mainly by the adenoma, the carcinoma being a relatively minor component.