Rectal carcinoma arising in a patient with intestinal and hepatic schistosomiasis due to Schistosoma mekongi
Matthew Burky,
Dimitri Trembath,
Christine Bookhout
Affiliations
Matthew Burky
Department of Pathology, Division of Surgical Pathology, Women’s and Children’s Hospitals, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 3rd Floor, Room 30149, 101 Manning Drive, Chapel Hill 27514, NC, USA
Dimitri Trembath
Department of Pathology, Division of Surgical Pathology, Women’s and Children’s Hospitals, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 3rd Floor, Room 30149, 101 Manning Drive, Chapel Hill 27514, NC, USA
Christine Bookhout
Corresponding author.; Department of Pathology, Division of Surgical Pathology, Women’s and Children’s Hospitals, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 3rd Floor, Room 30149, 101 Manning Drive, Chapel Hill 27514, NC, USA
Schistosomiasis is a parasitic trematode infection spread by snails with multiple species causing human disease. Infection can cause liver disease, including fibrosis and portal hypertension, and has been linked to malignancies such as bladder and colorectal cancer. We describe a case of Schistosoma mekongi, a geographically limited form of schistosomiasis, in a Laotian immigrant who presented with both hepatic fibrosis and rectal cancer, with numerous schistosome eggs present in the patient’s rectal resection. We believe this case is the first report of a rectal carcinoma arising in the setting of S. mekongi infection.