Sarcomatoid carcinoma of the colon: A case report with literature review

Sarcomatoid carcinoma (SC) is a well defined tumor type that may occur in all organs and anatomic sites but most commonly in the head(1), neck(1), respiratory tract(2-4), breasts, and genitourinary tract(6-11). It is a biphasic tumor showing both epithelial- and mesenchymal-like differentiation; however, its carcinomatous nature is widely recognized(12). SC is rare in the gastrointestinal tract. In the esophagus it accounts for less than 5% of all malignancies(12-16) and approximately only 35 cases have been described in the stomach(12,17-18). Very few cases have been observed in the small intestine(19-20), anorectal junction(21), liver(22), and pancreas(23-24). To our knowledge only eight cases of SC have been reported in the colon(25-32). We report a case of primary colonic SC. Both morphological and immunohistochemical analyses are provided along with an evaluation of the unusual clinical history, therapeutic implications, and controversial differential diagnosis.