Late isolated subcutaneous recurrence in an endometrial cancer patient submitted to panniculectomy

Background: Most endometrial carcinoma recurrences are pelvic or vaginal and isolated abdominal wall incisional line relapses and/or metastasis are quite rare, so their etiology is discussed. Case Report: A 60-year-old white obese female underwent panniculectomy, extra-fascial hysterectomy, bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy, and systematic pelvic lymphadenectomy via midline incision for IC endometrial adenocarcinoma followed by adjuvant external-beam radiotherapy and brachytherapy. Four years later a subcutaneous recurrence located under the abdominal scar was resected and treated by chemotherapy. Conclusions: The dissemination of endometrial adenocarcinoma cells on the laparotomic wound has an unclear mechanism, so the behavior of the disease, the prognostic factors, and the outcome of patients with isolated wound recurrence are not well known. The authors believe that the risk factor identified in this patient was the panniculectomy performed in the first surgery due to the patient's BMI, even if in the literature, to their knowledge, no study was reported on this problem. © The American Journal of Case Reports, 2010.