Lung Cancer Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Lung Cancer, including details on symptoms, smoking, genetics, treatment, causes.

Sister Mary Joseph's nodule as presenting sign of a desmoplastic small round cell tumor.

Doros L, Kaste SC, Rodriguez-Galindo C

Department of Pediatrics, University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center, Memphis, Tennessee, USA.

Umbilical metastases, also named Sister Mary Joseph's nodules, are well documented in the adult population and most often represent an underlying intra-abdominal malignancy, usually a carcinoma of gastrointestinal or gynecologic origin. They are indicative of widespread abdominal disease and are associated with a poor prognosis. An extensive review of the literature reveals only two such presentations in the pediatric population. A 14-year-old male presented with an umbilical mass, which was found to be a metastatic lesion of a desmoplastic small round cell tumor (DSRCT) of the abdomen. The diagnosis of an intra-abdominal malignancy, most commonly a DSRCT, should be considered in the presence of an umbilical mass in a child.

Published 12 December 2007 in Pediatr Blood Cancer, 50(2): 388-90.
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