Ossification of a rectal tumor : an uncommon finding

The authors report the case of a 29-year-old woman with -partially- calcified- stage- cT4N2M0- mucoid- adenocarcinoma- of- the mid-rectum. Concomitant neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy was administered.-Preoperative-CT-scan-and-MRI-demonstrated-stable disease with a marked increase of its mineralized component. -Histology- confirmed- a- mucoid- adenocarcinoma- with- ossified -matrix.-Osteocytes-were-identified-in-the-tumor.-TNM-(5th-edition) staging-was-ypT3N2M1. This-case-illustrates-heterotopic-ossification-of-a-rectal-tumor,-a fairly-uncommon-finding.-The-mechanism-of-heterotopic-bone-for- mation within gastrointestinal adenocarcinoma has not been fully elucidated. The impact of this particular feature on patient out- come is unknown. (Acta gastroenterol. belg., 2015, 78, 431-435).