A rare cause of small bowel perforation: A metastatic lesion from squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue

BACKGROUND: Metastatic lesions from head and neck tumours to the small bowel are extremely rare, and metastasis from tongue squamous cell carcinoma in particular has been reported only twice in the English literature. CASE PRESENTATION: A 76 year-old lady diagnosed with a loco-regionally advanced tongue squamous cell carcinoma but deferred surgical resection. Seven months later after her diagnosis, she presented with generalized abdominal pain, due to image-proven viscous perforation, thus taken for emergent exploratory laparotomy, where the perforation was found at the distal ileum, which was resected, and a primary side to side anastomosis was done. The histopathological examination of the resected segment revealed squamous cell carcinoma originating from the tongue. The patient was deteriorating clinically and vitally during her stay, and passed away on day 16 post operation due to multi-organ dysfunction syndrome. CONCLUSION: Metastatic lesions from tongue carcinoma found in the vicinity of the small bowel represent a terminal stage with a dismal prognosis, and when these lesions present clinically with a complicated course, the survival rate is decreased significantly.