Archives of Craniofacial Surgery (대한두개안면성형외과학회지)

Korean Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association (대한두개안면성형외과학회)
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Scalp metastasis of advanced gastric cancer

  • Ryu, Hyeong Rae (Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Soonchunhyang University College of Medicine) ;
  • Lee, Da Woon (Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Soonchunhyang University College of Medicine) ;
  • Choi, Hwan Jun (Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Soonchunhyang University College of Medicine) ;
  • Kim, Jun Hyuk (Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Soonchunhyang University College of Medicine) ;
  • Ahn, Hyein (Department of Pathology, Soonchunhyang University College of Medicine)
  • Received : 2021.03.31
  • Accepted : 2021.04.20
  • Published : 2021.06.20
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Abstract

Head and neck cutaneous metastasis of advanced gastric cancer is uncommon, and scalp metastasis is particularly rare. We present the case of a 60-year-old man who was diagnosed with cutaneous metastasis on the scalp originating from advanced gastric cancer. The patient was referred to the plastic surgery department for a scalp mass near the hairline. He had been diagnosed with advanced gastric cancer and undergone total gastrectomy and Roux esophagojejunostomy 3 years previously. The differential diagnosis for a single flesh-colored nodule on the scalp included benign tumors such as epidermal cyst or lipoma; therefore, the patient underwent excision and biopsy. In the operative field, the mass was found to be located in the frontalis muscle. The biopsy result showed that the mass was a metastatic lesion of advanced gastric cancer. Whole-body computed tomography revealed a gastric tumor with blood vessel infiltration, peritoneal carcinomatosis, liver metastasis, and multiple disseminated subcutaneous metastases. Although scalp metastasis originating from an internal organ is extremely rare, plastic surgeons should always consider a metastatic lesion in the differential diagnosis if a patient with a scalp lesion has a history of malignant cancer.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea government (MSIT) (2020R1A2C1100891), and was supported by Soonchunhyang University research fund.

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