Colorectal cancer in pregnancy: a rapid progressive disease

Abstract

Colorectal cancer during pregnancy is uncommon and most patients present in late pregnancy. This report describes unusual presentations of colorectal cancer in relation to pregnancy in three patients. The first patient is a 30-year-old primipara that developed lower abdominal pain and constipation two weeks after an emergency cesarean section. She had no change in bowel habit, rectal bleeding, or weight loss. Within two weeks after delivery she developed progressive massive ascitis. She was found to have a hard mass in the rectum. Colonoscopy and biopsy was diagnostic of adenocarcinoma of the rectum. Patient died three days later from respiratory difficulty.

(Published: 11 January 2010)

Citation: Libyan J Med 2010, 5: 4632 - DOI: 10.4176/090806