Bone and brain metastases from ampullary adenocarcinoma

Ampullary carcinoma is the second most common cancer of the peri-ampullary area after pancreatic carcinoma and metastasizes mostly intra-abdominally and to the liver. Extra-abdominal metastases are less frequent. In this report we describe the case of a patient with resected adenocarcinoma of the ampulla of Vater who developed skeletal metastases in the lower extremity and brain metastases. We briefly discuss aspects of this comparatively rare gastrointestinal malignancy. (C) 2009 The WJG Press and Baishideng. All rights reserved