A Curatively Resected Case of Lateral Lymph Node Metastasis Five-Years after Initial Surgery for Rectal Cancer

A 74-year-old male had undergone laparoscopic abdominoperineal resection for lower rectal cancer in July 2009. The pathological diagnosis was T2, N0, M0, pStage I (TNM 7th). Because of pathological venous invasion, adjuvant chemotherapy with Tegafur-uracil(UFT)plus Leucovorin for a year was performed. A CT examination revealed slowly growing peripheral right internal iliaclymph node. PET-CT demonstrated a 20mm right lateral lymph node(LLN)metastasis without other distant metastases. On diagnosis of solitary LLN metastasis of rectal cancer, the patient underwent surgical lymph node resection in September 2014. The pathological diagnosis was lymph node metastasis from rectal cancer. Subsequently, the patient received mFOLFOX6 adjuvant chemotherapy for 6 months. The patient remains alive without any recurrence 31 months after the second surgical treatment. lt is important to consider that LLN metastasis of Stage I rectal cancer might still occur a long time after the curative operation.