Solitary choroidal metastasis from gastric adenocarcinoma: a case report

BACKGROUND Metastatic choroidal carcinomas that originated from the gastrointestinal tract are extremely rare. We report a case of suspected solitary choroidal metastasis from gastric adenocarcinoma. CASE PRESENTATION The patient was a 60-year-old man who had undergone laparoscopic distal gastrectomy with D1+ lymphadenecetomy for gastric cancer. The clinical stage was T1bN0M0 (TNM classification), but the pathological stage was T4aN0M0 beyond expectation. Adjuvant chemotherapy with oral Tegafur, Gimeracil, Oteracil potassium (TS-1®) was initiated. But he suddenly complained of decreased visual acuity in his right eye about 8 months later. This was suspected to be caused by choroidal metastasis of gastric adenocarcinoma. Chemotherapy with paclitaxel (PTX) and intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) achieved complete remission and spared the patient from going blind. CONCLUSIONS This case demonstrates that we should be aware of the possibility of choroidal metastases, when visual symptoms arise during treatment of gastric cancer.