Colon Carcinoma Presenting with a Synchronous Oesophageal Carcinoma and Basal Cell Carcinoma of the Skin

With advances in diagnostic techniques and treatment modalities, the number of patients identified with colorectal carcinoma who develop multiple primary malignancies during long-term followup has been increasing. We report a patient who developed three histologically distinct malignancies. Primary colon carcinoma treated radically followed by an 8-year disease-free period. The patient then presented with progressive dysphagia and was investigated and diagnosed to have a synchronous multicentric squamous cell carcinoma of the oesophagus and basal cell carcinoma of the skin. There was a simultaneous multicentric recurrence in the colon. This case is worth mentioning because the clustering of three primary malignancies (synchronous and metachronous) is of rare occurrence in a single patient, and, to our knowledge, this is the first report of this combination occurring in the same individual. In addition, the report emphasizes the importance of evaluating patients with known colonic primary neoplasms for synchronous colonic and extracolonic tumors.