Combined Abscess and Carcinoma of the Stomach

Abstract

Circumscribed or diffuse acute inflammation of the stomach is an uncommon disease and is never diagnosed before operation or necropsy. It is rare for either abscess or cancer of the stomach to be found in the incipient stages, the lesions usually being well developed when seen by the pathologist. The following account, therefore, is of interest as recording the co-existence of two infrequently observed pathologic changes. Case Report The clinical record is brief. The patient, a married woman of fifty-six years, complained of vague abdominal distress for several months, with occasional attacks of nausea and vomiting. She did not lose weight nor could she recollect any other symptoms. There was apparent tenderness of the lower right side of the abdomen but no rigidity. Nothing of diagnostic importance was observed in the vomitus, urine, or stools. The symptoms became more severe and were associated with slight elevation of temperature. Gastric analyses were not made. Further preoperative data were not significant. A laparotomy was performed and the appendix removed, but the patient died at the end of the first week. In the appendix only moderate chronic inflammatory changes were found on histologic examination. At the necropsy, which was performed twenty-four hours after the body had been embalmed, there were observed localized peritonitis about the cecum and evidence of septicemia, such as enlarged spleen, acute pleuritis, and pneumonitis.