Small intestinal metastasis is extremely rare and only 13 cases have been reported till date and almost all such patients have presented with intestinal obstruction. The 5-year overall survival for metastatic esophageal cancer is as low as 5% while the patients with small intestinal metastasis have a median survival of only 3months (range 1-12months) despite undergoing radical resection of the small bowel. We present a case of a male in his 50's who presented with difficulty in swallowing for 4months. On evaluation, he was found to have squamous cell carcinoma in the mid thoracic esophagus. He underwent radical chemo-radiation up to 60Gy in 25 fractions over 5weeks. One week after completion of treatment he presented with ileal obstruction and omental nodules and surgical resection and evaluation of the respective ileal segment and omental biopsy revealed a metastatic squamous cell carcinoma. The patient expired 3months post-surgery. Carcinoma esophagus with small bowel metastasis has a very grave prognosis that patients rarely survive beyond 1year despite undergoing resection. Hence it is imperative to consider a small bowel metastasis when such patients present with clinical features of intestinal obstruction for early diagnosis and aggressive management.
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