Turcot syndrome with colonic obstruction and small intestinal invagination: Report of a case

We report herein the ease of a 16-year-old boy diagnosed as having Turcot syndrome, otherwise known as glioma-polyposis syndrome. The patient was transferred from the Department of Neurosurgery where he was undergoing investigation of a brain tumor, to the Department of Medicine for investigation of gastrointestinal symptoms. The patient was diagnosed as having Turcot syndrome, and was then transferred to the Department of surgery for treatment of an obstruction in the sigmoid colon and small intestinal invagination. A subtotal colectomy with side-to-end ileoproctostomy and release of the invaginations was carried out. Multiple polyps were found in the colon, two of which, including a large polyp that obstructed the colonic lumen, were confirmed histologically to be adenocarcinoma. The remaining polyps were adenomas. A biopsy of the brain tumor confirmed a diagnosis of astrocytoma (WHO grade II). This case report describes the characteristic features of Turcot syndrome presented by this patient.