Pancreatic cancer presenting as a Sister Mary Joseph's nodule

Abstract

A 69-year-old man presented with a painful umbilical nodule of 1 month duration. On examination the nodule was blackish in colour with a serous discharging fluid and was 2x2 cm in size, tender and fixed to the skin. There were no scars or sinuses at the umbilicus and no palpable mass or organomegaly on systemic examination. The patient underwent wide local excision of the skin nodule and on histopathology was reported as metastatic adenocarcinoma of the skin. A CT of the abdomen was performed to look for the primary site, which showed a 5x4 cm lesion in the tail of the pancreas. A biopsy from the pancreatic lesion was taken which was reported as an adenocarcinoma. CA19-9 was more than 1000 U/mL. The patient was advised palliative chemotherapy with gemcitabine. He was unwilling to take any further treatment in view of the advanced nature of the disease. Copyright 2013 BMJ Publishing Group. All rights reserved.