Prostate Cancer Metastasis to Stomach: A Case Report and Review of Literature

Metastatic prostate cancer is a common diagnosis with a protracted but terminal course. Gastrointestinal (GI) tract involvement is extremely rare, and reportedly portends a poor prognosis. It can present years after the initial prostate cancer diagnosis. Only fifteen cases of prostate cancer metastasis to the stomach have been reported in the literature. We report a case of a 72-year-old man with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer and extensive bony involvement. He presented a decade after the diagnosis of prostate cancer with signs of heartburn; a gastric biopsy was initially believed to represent primary gastric carcinoma, but subsequently a diagnosis of prostate cancer metastatic to the stomach was confirmed. This case highlights the importance of the provision of a pertinent clinical history and clinical differential diagnosis at the time of submission of surgical pathology specimens, as well as highlighting the need to have a low index of suspicion to pursue additional pathologic markers whenever a presumed second adenocarcinoma is noted in the context of a patient having a history of current or prior advanced-stage adenocarcinoma of another site. The correct diagnosis can shield the patient from the morbidity of inappropriate surgical or medical management.