An inguinal hernia revealing an advanced stage gastric cancer in a young patient: A case report

INTRODUCTION: Gastric cancer (GC) is the fifth most common cancer and the fourth leading cause of death. It is much more common in advanced age and it is rare among the youngest patients (under 45 years of age). CASE PRESENTATION: we report an unusual presentation of advanced gastric adenocarcinoma in 39-year-old man, who presented to our hospital with inguinal hernia without obvious gastrointestinal symptoms. He had strong family history of cancer, heavy smoking habit and weight loss. The intra-operative procedure identified a cyanotic separate spermatocele which was confirmed by the urologist. During investigation we found multiple liver metastasis in abdominal CT and advanced gastric adenocarcinoma from gastric biopsy and metastasis in spermatic cord sample and peritoneum sample of poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma. CONCLUSION: Although stomach adenocarcinoma is extremely rare in young patient but it should be kept in mind of physicians as a possible diagnosis if there are many risk factors.