Jejunal adenocarcinoma in a young female patient – Case Report

Abstract

Introduction The duodenum and the small intestine comprise about 75% of the digestive tract but the incidence of neoplastic lesions is extremely low, especially compared to that of the large intestine which accounts for only a quarter of the length of the small bowel. A variety of tumours, both malignant and benign, are reported from the small intestine, accounting for 2-5% of the neoplasms in the gastrointestinal tract [1,2,3]. The commonest type of primary malignant neoplasm of the small intestine is carcinoid (35%-42%) followed by adenocarcinoma (30%-40%), lymphoma (15%-20%) and sarcoma (10%-15%) [4,5]. More than 50% of the adenocarcinomas are found in the duodenum and the incidence drops along the rest, being about 27% in the jejunum and only around 10% in the ileum [5].