- Case Report
- Open access
- Published:
Hidden colon adenocarcinoma diagnosed from mouth metastasis: case report and literature review
World Journal of Surgical Oncology volume 21, Article number: 88 (2023)
Abstract
Background
We report an unusual case of metastatic colon adenocarcinoma to the maxilla as an initial clinical sign of the disease, this being the second case reported in the palate. In addition, we show an extensive review of the literature, with clinical cases of adenocarcinoma with metastasis to the mouth.
Case presentation
An 80-year-old man complained of “swelling on the palate” with a 3-week evolution time. He reported suffering from constipation and high blood pressure. The intraoral examination revealed a pedunculated, red, and painless nodule on the maxillary gingiva. Under the diagnostic hypotheses of squamous cell carcinoma and malignant neoplasm of the salivary gland, an incisional biopsy was performed. Microscopically, the columnar epithelium was observed forming papillary areas, neoplastic cells with prominent nucleoli, hyperchromatic nuclei, atypical mitotic figures, and mucous cells, being positive for CK 20, suggesting the provisional diagnosis of metastatic adenocarcinoma, probably of gastrointestinal origin. The patient was submitted to endoscopy and colonoscopy exams, and a lesion in the sigmoid region of the colon was observed. After a colon biopsy, a moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma was confirmed, establishing the final diagnosis of metastatic neoplasia of colon adenocarcinoma to the oral lesion. The literature review revealed 45 clinical cases of colon adenocarcinoma with metastasis to the oral cavity. To the best of our knowledge, it is the second case on the palate.
Conclusions
Colon adenocarcinoma with metastasis to the oral cavity is rare but should be included in the differential diagnosis of neoplasms of the oral cavity, even when there are no known primary tumors in some cases, and this may be the first indication of the presence of a tumor.
Background
Metastatic tumors in the oral region are uncommon, comprising less than 1% of all malignancies [1]. Patients between the fifth and seventh decade of life are among those that most present metastases in the oral region; however, there is not a major difference between the sexes [2]. In the jaws, the mandible is the region most affected, while in the soft tissues, the inserted gum is the most frequently involved site [3, 4]. However, the frequency of the site of oral metastasis changes depending on the primary lesion location [2].
All types of malignant tumors can metastasize to the oral cavity, but the main tumors that present oral metastases are lung, kidney, liver, and prostate for men and breast, female genitals, and kidneys for women [3]. Colon cancer is the fourth most frequent cancer and second cancer concerning mortality worldwide [5]. Most colorectal neoplasias metastasize to the local lymph nodes, liver, and lungs [6].
Oral metastases are rare and relevant clinical studies are scarce, which makes diagnosis and treatment difficult [1, 7]. The prognosis for these patients is extremely poor, and the majority die within 9 months after the diagnosis [8]. The present case report highlights an unusual case of colon adenocarcinoma that metastasized to the maxilla, which is an early clinical sign of this disease. We also performed an extensive literature review encompassing clinical case reports of colorectal adenocarcinoma with metastasis to the mouth.
Case presentation
An 80-year-old male presented with the principal complaint of “swelling on the palate” that appeared 3 weeks prior to examination. The patient’s significant medical history included constipation and hypertension. The patient was currently taking daily antihypertensive medication. He denied having any habits or addictions. In an intraoral examination, a reddish painless pedunculated nodule was observed with ulcerated areas located on the palate, between the left upper first and second molars, measuring 2 cm at its largest diameter (Fig. 1a). Radiographic examination showed no changes, with the underlying bone intact (Fig. 1b). The clinical diagnostic hypotheses of squamous cell carcinoma, malignant neoplasm of the salivary gland, and pyogenic granuloma were established. An incisional biopsy was performed, and histopathological analysis revealed columnar epithelium forming papilliferous areas, mucous cells, and cystic-like formation. The immunohistochemical analysis was positive for CK20. Neoplastic cells exhibited prominent nucleoli, hyperchromatic nuclei, and some atypical mitotic figures (Fig. 1c and d).
The histopathological features suggested metastatic adenocarcinoma probably of gastrointestinal origin. The patient was sent to the clinician for investigation concerning the origin of the primary tumor. Endoscopy and colonoscopy were performed, which showed a scar in the esophagus, chronic gastritis, and a lesion in the sigmoid region of the colon. After a colon biopsy, a moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma was confirmed (Fig. 2a). A positron emission tomography—computed tomography (PET-CT) showed increased uptake of F18-FDG in the brain, hard palate, liver, lumbar 1 vertebral body, and sigmoid region (Fig. 2b and c). Therefore, a final histological diagnosis confirmed the metastatic adenocarcinoma of the colon. The patient underwent 8 cycles of chemotherapy with 5-fluorouracil and 10 mg/mL calcium folinate. Unfortunately, he died 3 months later.
Discussion and conclusions
We conducted an extensive literature review in search of articles on clinical cases of colorectal adenocarcinoma metastasis in the mouth. The search was performed on PubMed and in the references of selected articles, from inception through July 2022, with no language or publication date restrictions, and the strategy was limited to humans. Forty-one articles published between 1936 and 2020 were selected, reporting 45 clinical cases (Table 1), including the present case [1, 6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41,42,43,44]. It was observed that patients were between the seventh (33.33%) and eighth (31.11%) decades of life, and the age ranged from 33 to 80 years. There was a predominance of males, with 26 (57.78%) men and 19 (42.22%) women. In 10 (22.22%) patients, the diagnosis of metastasis was made before finding the primary tumor.
Malignant tumors with oral metastases are uncommon [46]. In our patient, it appeared as an asymptomatic, reddish mass with ulcerated areas located on the upper maxillary gingiva, suggesting a differential diagnosis of squamous cell carcinoma, salivary gland neoplasm, or pyogenic granuloma. In the gingiva, the lesion can be similar to a hyperplastic or reactive lesion, such as pyogenic granuloma, peripheral giant granuloma, or fibrous epulis; in other oral soft tissues, it appears as a submucosal nodule, and in a few cases as ulceration [8, 43]. Metastases do not necessarily have a malignant clinical appearance, which can lead to a misdiagnosis and delay their treatment [8, 43]. However, cases of oral adenocarcinoma metastases had a median survival of 6 months after diagnosis. Our patient presented a fast progression, with death in 3 weeks.
What makes this case report unique is the presence of metastasis to the maxilla. There are eight cases reported in the English literature of adenocarcinoma metastasis to this location [9, 18, 26, 28, 37, 41, 43, 45]. Colon carcinomas usually metastasize to regional lymph nodes, liver, peritoneum, lungs, or ovaries, rarely in supraclavicular organs [47]. Although poorly understood, a possible mechanism that leads to metastasis to the mandibles is the Batson plexus [48]. There is free communication between the venous systems of the neck, thorax, abdomen, and pelvis with the vertebral venous plexus without valves that extends from the base of the skull to the coccyx. An increase in pressure in the abdomen can create an upward flow through the vertebral venous plexus and thus metastatic cells can reach the maxilla and mandible [48, 49]. However, it is not a simple mechanism due to the difference in disseminated metastases between the mandible bones and the oral mucosa, even though they share the same blood supply [3].
Our patient presented the lesion located on the maxillary gingiva. The gingiva is a site with chronic inflammation that favors circulating metastatic tumor cells [4]. Chronic inflammation is related to several stages of tumor formation, such as cell transformation, promotion, survival, proliferation, invasion, angiogenesis, and metastasis [50]. In this literature review, the most common site of oral metastases was the lower gingiva, with 18 cases (40.00%), followed by the mandible with 13 cases (28.88%). Bone metastasis of the mandible is found more frequently due to the existence of bone marrow in these regions, but to a lesser extent in older people [3, 51].
Metastases in the oral cavity can show rapid progression, pain, bleeding, or paresthesia [3, 52]. Furthermore, the histological examination, accompanied by other diagnostic approaches is important to establish the correct diagnosis as fast as possible [37]. The histological differential diagnosis can be made with sinonasal intestinal-type adenocarcinoma, which is morphologically similar to intestinal primary adenocarcinoma. Both can be indistinguishable on histological analysis, but can be differentiated with immunohistochemistry [53]. In our case, it was not necessary due to the location of the tumor in the oral cavity and given the fact that there was no communication with the sinonasal tract, the absence of osseous destruction, in addition to the patient not presenting corresponding symptoms.
The diagnosis of a metastatic lesion in the oral region is a challenge both in the recognition as a metastatic lesion and in determining the place of origin. Recent advances in imaging technologies, molecular profiling tools, and immunohistochemical tests improve the identification of the primary site of origin and impact treatment options [54]. In our patient, the immunohistochemical technique showed positivity for CK20, helping to identify the origin of the primary tumor, and which was later confirmed with a colon biopsy. Therefore, the definitive diagnosis must be made based on microscopic features correlated with clinical characteristics, image exams, and immunohistochemical analysis. Important markers for the diagnosis of metastatic tumors of gastrointestinal origin include cytokeratin (CK) 20, caudal-type homeobox transcription factor 2 (CDX2), and cytokeratin (CK) 7 [38]. The CK7-negative and CK20-positive phenotype is found in the vast majority of well-differentiated or moderately differentiated large intestinal adenocarcinomas [55]. CDX2 is a sensitive and specific marker for colorectal adenocarcinoma, but its expression may be decreased between high-grade and stage tumors [56].
The treatment for cases of oral metastasis is surgical resection, which can be combined with radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy. However, treatment is often palliative, contributing to the patient’s quality of life [3]. According to this literature review, the death rate was high, as demonstrated in our case report.
Oral adenocarcinoma metastases are rare but should be included in the differential diagnosis even when there is no history of a primary tumor, as they may be a sign of cancer recurrence or the first manifestation of an occult primary neoplasm.
Availability of data and materials
The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
References
Amin A, Jha M, Reddy A. Lower lip numbness in a patient with colorectal cancer. BMJ Case Rep. 2011;2011:bcr0120113682. Published 2011 Apr 15. https://doi.org/10.1136/bcr.01.2011.3682.
Irani S. Metastasis to the oral soft tissues: a review of 412 cases. J Int Soc Prev Community Dent. 2016;6(5):393–401. https://doi.org/10.4103/2231-0762.192935.
Hirshberg A, Shnaiderman-Shapiro A, Kaplan I, Berger R. Metastatic tumours to the oral cavity - pathogenesis and analysis of 673 cases. Oral Oncol. 2008;44(8):743–52. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oraloncology.2007.09.012.
Allon I, Pessing A, Kaplan I, Allon DM, Hirshberg A. Metastatic tumors to the gingiva and the presence of teeth as a contributing factor: a literature analysis. J Periodontol. 2014;85(1):132–9. https://doi.org/10.1902/jop.2013.130118.
Bray F, Ferlay J, Soerjomataram I, Siegel RL, Torre LA, Jemal A. Global cancer statistics 2018: GLOBOCAN estimates of incidence and mortality worldwide for 36 cancers in 185 countries. CA Cancer J Clin. 2020;70(4):313. CA Cancer J Clin 2018;68(6):394-424. https://doi.org/10.3322/caac.21492.
Singh T, Amirtham U, Satheesh CT, Lakshmaiah KC, Suresh TM, Babu KG, et al. Floor-of-mouth metastasis in colorectal cancer. Ann Saudi Med. 2011;31(1):87–9. https://doi.org/10.4103/0256-4947.70583.
Ren QG, Huang T, Yang SL, Hu JL. Colon cancer metastasis to the mandibular gingiva with partial occult squamous differentiation: a case report and literature review. Mol Clin Oncol. 2017;6(2):189–92. https://doi.org/10.3892/mco.2016.1102.
Soares AB, Thomaz LA, Duarte MT, de Camargo de Moraes P, de Araújo VC. Metastatic adenocarcinoma of the colon: early manifestation in gingival tissue. Head Neck Pathol. 2011;5(2):140–3. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12105-010-0222-2.
Humphrey AA, Amos NH. Metastatic gingival adenocarcinoma from a primary lesion of the colon. Am J Cancer. 1936;28:128. https://doi.org/10.1158/ajc.1936.128.
Bruce KW, McDonald JR. Metastatic adenocarcinoma of the mandible from the sigmoid colon; report of case. Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol. 1954;7(7):772–7. https://doi.org/10.1016/0030-4220(54)90131-0.
Meyer I, Shklar G. Involvement of the mandible and oral mucosa in a case of rectal adenocarcinoma with generalized metastases; report of a case. Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol. 1958;11(1):69–78. https://doi.org/10.1016/0030-4220(58)90223-8.
Clausen F, Poulsen H. Metastatic carcinoma of the jaws. Acta Pathol Microbiol Scand. 1963;57:361–74. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1699-0463.1963.tb05105.x.
Straith FE. Metastatic adenocarcinoma of mandible: report of a case with a confusing history and symptoms. Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol. 1967;24(1):1–5. https://doi.org/10.1016/0030-4220(67)90279-4.
Levy B, Smith WK. A jaw metastasis from the colon. Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol. 1974;38(5):769–72. https://doi.org/10.1016/0030-4220(74)90399-5.
Moffat DA. Metastatic adenocarcinoma of the rectum presenting as an epulis: a case report. Br J Oral Surgery. 1976;14:90–2. https://doi.org/10.1016/0007-117X(76)90100-1.
Rentschler RE, Thrasher TV. Gingival and mandibular metastases from rectal adenocarcinoma: case report and 20-year review of the English literature. Laryngoscope. 1982;92(7 Pt 1):795–7. https://doi.org/10.1288/00005537-198207000-00015.
Giles DL, McDonald PJ. Pathologic fracture of mandibular condyle due to carcinoma of the rectum. Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol. 1982;53(3):247–9. https://doi.org/10.1016/0030-4220(82)90298-5.
Delfino JJ, Wilson TK, Rainero DM. Metastatic adenocarcinoma from the colon to the mandible. J Oral Maxillofac Surg. 1982;40(3):188–90. https://doi.org/10.1016/0278-2391(82)90059-3.
Rusthoven JJ, Fine S, Thomas G. Adenocarcinoma of the rectum metastatic to the oral cavity. Two cases and a review of the literature. Cancer. 1984;54(6):1110–2. https://doi.org/10.1002/1097-0142(19840915)54 6<1110::aid-cncr2820540631>3.0.co;2-o.
Naylor GD, Auclair PL, Rathbun WA, Hall EH. Metastatic adenocarcinoma of the colon presenting as periradicular periodontal disease: a case report. Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol. 1989;67(2):162–6. https://doi.org/10.1016/0030-4220(89)90322-8.
Nitzan DW, Livni N, Marmary Y, Ben-Baruch N, Sela J, Catane R. The use of monoclonal anti-CEA antibody immunohistochemistry in detecting the origin of oral cavity metastasis. Int J Oral Maxillofac Surg. 1990;19(3):162–4. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0901-5027(05)80136-5.
Babu KG, Raud C, Kumaraswamy SV, Lalitha N. Carcinoma colon with mandible and liver metastases. Br J Oral Maxillofac Surg. 1996;34(1):133–4. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0266-4356(96)90175-8.
Bentley RP, Worrall SF. Carcinoma of the colon with mandible and liver metastases. Br J Oral Maxillofac Surg. 1997;35(3):221–2. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0266-4356(97)90671-9.
Cantero R, Luis Diez L, Perez JC, Gómez F, Sierra E, Sastre J, et al. Gingival metastasis as first sign of a rectal cancer. Coloproctology. 1998;20:229–32. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03043892.
Mason AC, Azari KK, Farkas LM, Duvvuri U, Myers EN. Metastatic adenocarcinoma of the colon presenting as a mass in the mandible. Head Neck. 2005;27(8):729–32. https://doi.org/10.1002/hed.20224.
Mojica-Manosa P, Rigual N, Tan D, Sullivan M. An unusual case of a metastatic adenocarcinoma of the rectum to the mandible: a case report and review of the literature. J Oral Maxillofac Surg. 2006;64(9):1436–9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joms.2005.11.063.
Spinelli GP, Caprio G, Tomao F, Barberi S, Miele E, Boghi F, et al. Metastatic infiltration of adenocarcinoma of the rectum in hard palate: report of a case and a review of the literature. Oral Oncol Extra. 2006;42(5):206–9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ooe.2005.12.002.
Alvarez-Alvarez C, Iglesias-Rodríguez B, Pazo-Irazu S, Delgado-Sánchez-Gracián C. Colonic adenocarcinoma with metastasis to the gingiva. Med Oral Patol Oral Cir Bucal. 2006;11(1):E85–7 Published 2006 Jan 1. Accessed 1 May 2021. http://www.medicinaoral.com/pubmed/medoralv11_i1_pE85.pdf.
Kawamura M, Nakabayashi Y, Otsuka M, Sakata H, Yanaga K. Gingival metastasis from rectal cancer. J Gastrointest Surg. 2008;12(6):1121–2. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11605-007-0401-y.
Iida T, Sasaki T, Akita H, Sasaki M, Shiba H, Yanaga K. Metastatic gingival tumor from rectal cancer diagnosed with CDX2. Clin J Gastroenterol. 2009;2(3):175–7. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12328-009-0081-0.
Bell D, Kupferman ME, Williams MD, Rashid A, El-Naggar AK. Primary colonic-type adenocarcinoma of the base of the tongue: a previously unreported phenotype. Hum Pathol. 2009;40(12):1798–802. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.humpath.2009.01.028.
Favia G, Maiorano E, Lo ML. Image of the month. Gingival metastasis from colonic adenocarcinoma. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2010;8(4):A28. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cgh.2009.07.010.
Murugaraj V, Bischoff P, Fasanya S, Hameed S, Suman A. Metastatic colorectal adenocarcinoma of the jaw—a case report. Oral Surg. 2013;6:88–90. https://doi.org/10.1111/ors.12012.
Lagha A, Chraiet N, Krimi S, Ayadi M, Rifi H, Raies H, et al. Gingival metastasis from rectal cancer. Int J Case Rep Images. 2012;3(1):2426. https://doi.org/10.5348/ijcri-2012-01-85-CR-7.
Yang RH, Chu YK, Li WY. Unusual site of metastasis detected with FDG PET/CT in a case of recurrent rectosigmoid cancer. Clin Nucl Med. 2014;39(4):355–7. https://doi.org/10.1097/RLU.0000000000000293.
Miyake M, Takebayashi R, Ohbayashi Y, Kushida Y, Matsui Y. Metastasis in the gingiva from colon adenocarcinoma. J Maxillofac Oral Surg. 2015;14(Suppl 1):279–82. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12663-013-0487-6.
Baranović M, Vidaković B, Sauerborn D, Perić B, Uljanić I, Mahovne I. Colorectal adenocarcinoma metastasizing to the oral mucosa of the upper jaw. Srp Arh Celok Lek. 2015;143(5-6):314–6. https://doi.org/10.2298/sarh1506314b.
Watanabe M, Tada M, Satomi T, Chikazu D, Mizumoto M, Sakurai H. Metastatic rectal adenocarcinoma in the mandibular gingiva: a case report. World J Surg Oncol. 2016;14(1):199. Published 2016 Jul 29. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12957-016-0958-6.
McGoldrick D, Brady P, Sleeman D. Metastatic adenocarcinoma of the mandible. Oral Surg. 2017;10:248–51. https://doi.org/10.1111/ors.12257.
Romanet I, Lan R, Ordioni U, Albertini AF, Campana F. A rare case of oral metastasis of colon adenocarcinoma. J Stomatol Oral Maxillofac Surg. 2018;119(3):229–31. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jormas.2018.02.003.
Di Stasio D, Montella M, Cozzolino I, Cicciù M, Cervino G, Paparella RS, et al. Multidisciplinary diagnostic and surgical management of adenocarcinoma gingival metastases. J Craniofac Surg. 2018;29(6):e531–4. https://doi.org/10.1097/SCS.0000000000004632.
Pelissari C, Cavalcanti D, Braz-Silva PH, Gallottini M, Trierveiler M. Metastatic colorectal adenocarcinoma in oral cavity: case report and literature review. J Oral Diag. 2018;3(1). https://doi.org/10.5935/2525-5711.20180014.
Dalirsani Z, Mohtasham N, Samiee N. Metastasis of colon adenocarcinoma to maxillary gingiva and palate. Iran J Otorhinolaryngol. 2020;32(112):327–31. https://doi.org/10.22038/ijorl.2020.42693.2394.
Samlali H, Bouchbika Z, Bennani Z, et al. Métastase crânienne d’un adénocarcinome rectal: à propos d’un cas avec revue de la littérature [Brain metastasis from rectal adenocarcinoma: about a case and review of the literature]. Pan Afr Med J. 2017;26:58. Published 2017 Feb 1. https://doi.org/10.11604/pamj.2017.26.58.9826.
Neumann ED, León Vintró X, Vega García C, Quer AM. Oral cavity colon adenocarcinoma metastases: case report with surgical approach and review of more than 30 years literature. Oral Maxillofac Surg. 2021;25(1):99–101. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10006-020-00887-y.
McClure SA, Movahed R, Salama A, Ord RA. Maxillofacial metastases: a retrospective review of one institution's 15-year experience. J Oral Maxillofac Surg. 2013;71(1):178–88. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joms.2012.04.009.
Cama E, Agostino S, Ricci R, Scarano E. A rare case of metastases to the maxillary sinus from sigmoid colon adenocarcinoma. ORL J Otorhinolaryngol Relat Spec. 2002;64(5):364–7. https://doi.org/10.1159/000066076.
Batson OV. The function of the vertebral veins and their role in the spread of metastases. Ann Surg. 1940;112(1):138–49. https://doi.org/10.1097/00000658-194007000-00016.
Huang SF, Wu RC, Chang JT, Chan SC, Liao CT, Chen IH, et al. Intractable bleeding from solitary mandibular metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma. World J Gastroenterol. 2007;13(33):4526–8. https://doi.org/10.3748/wjg.v13.i33.4526.
Mantovani A. Cancer: inflammation by remote control. Nature. 2005;435(7043):752–3. https://doi.org/10.1038/435752a.
Yoshimura Y, Matsuda S, Naitoh S. Hepatocellular carcinoma metastatic to the mandibular ramus and condyle: report of a case and review of the literature. J Oral Maxillofac Surg. 1997;55(3):297–306. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0278-2391(97)90547-4.
Tomikawa M, Higuchi Y, Saku M, Takeshita M, Yoshida K, Sugimachi K. Carcinoma of the colon metastatic to the lower gingiva. Dig Surg. 2001;18(4):333–5. https://doi.org/10.1159/000050166.
Chan JKC, El-Naggar AK, Grandis JR, Takata T, Slootweg PJ. WHO Classification of Head and Neck Tumours. 4th ed: International Agency for Research on Cancer; 2017.
Hirshberg A, Berger R, Allon I, Kaplan I. Metastatic tumors to the jaws and mouth. Head Neck Pathol. 2014;8(4):463–74. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12105-014-0591-z.
Kende AI, Carr NJ, Sobin LH. Expression of cytokeratins 7 and 20 in carcinomas of the gastrointestinal tract. Histopathology. 2003;42(2):137–40. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2559.2003.01545.x.
Kaimaktchiev V, Terracciano L, Tornillo L, Spichtin H, Stoios D, Bundi M, et al. The homeobox intestinal differentiation factor CDX2 is selectively expressed in gastrointestinal adenocarcinomas. Mod Pathol. 2004;17(11):1392–9. https://doi.org/10.1038/modpathol.3800205.
Acknowledgements
Not applicable.
Funding
This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
MLAL collected and analyzed the data, and wrote the manuscript text. JDA and YRC managed the patient and reported the pathological findings. EK conceived the idea of the study, supervision and project administration. All authors reviewed the manuscript draft and revised it critically on intellectual content. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript to be published
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Ethics approval and consent to participate
All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Informed consent was obtained from the participant in this study.
Consent for publication
This was obtained.
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.
About this article
Cite this article
de Almeida Lança, M.L., Carvalho, Y.R., Almeida, J.D. et al. Hidden colon adenocarcinoma diagnosed from mouth metastasis: case report and literature review. World J Surg Onc 21, 88 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12957-023-02978-y
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12957-023-02978-y