The mechanism of plasma albumin loss in carcinoma of the cecum.

Investigation of hypoalbuminemia in an elderly woman with a large papillary adenocarcinoma of the cecum revealed that the hypoproteinemia was due to excessive loss of plasma albumin into the intestinal tract. Results of studies on this patient and analysis of published reports suggest that several factors were involved in the loss of albumin from the neoplasm, namely, the size and location of the tumour, absence of normal surface epithelium, presence of exudate on the surface of the tumour due to tumour necrosis and secondary infection, and bleeding from damaged vessels near the surface of the tumour.