A review of duodenal metastases from squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix presenting as an upper gastrointestinal bleed

Upper gastrointestinal bleeding due to duodenal metastases is extremely uncommon. Extra-pelvic spread of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the cervix to the small bowel is rare with only 6 reported cases in the English literature since 1981(PubMed, Medline). We report the case of a 49-year-old woman who presented with upper-gastrointestinal bleeding two years after the diagnosis of SCC of the cervix. At esophagogastroduodenoscopy, there was a stricture in the second part of the duodenum which was biopsied for a suspected neoplastic lesion. Histologic and immunohistochemical examination showed a malignant lesion with characteristics identical to her original tumor in the cervix confirming the duodenal metastases. The clinical presentation of a 'malignant' upper-gastrointestinal bleed due to duodenal metastases from SCC of the cervix is unusual. Awareness of such infrequent patterns of metastases in cervical cancer confirmed by histopathological diagnosis is important for best practice therapeutic decisions in these patients.