Transverse colon cancer presenting as acute abdominal wall abscess

Abstract

A 54-year-old woman presented with an acute painful swelling in the upper abdomen. The patient is a smoker, diabetic and had history of chronic constipation. The swelling was acute with 3 days duration and was associated with mild fever. On examination, there was an acute tender hot swelling in the epigastric region with abdominal distention (figure 1). Ultrasound was carried out and revealed a large heterogeneous fluid collection, and large pelvic cyst requiring CT for further assessment (figure 2). The CT scan was carried out revealing a mid-transverse colonic mass invading the anterior abdominal with connection to subcutaneous abscess (4×10 cm), and causing further dilation of the transverse colon. There was also an incidental adenexal cyst with no evidence of distant metastasis (figure 3). Figure 1 On the left: the patient presenting with acute abdominal wall swelling with abdominal distention. On the right: the patient underwent pigtail …