Gastric Cancer Occurring in a Patient with Plummer-Vinson Syndrome: A case report

ABSTRACT

Plummer-Vinson syndrome (sideropenic dysphagia) is characterized by dysphagia due to an upper esophageal or a hypopharyngeal web in a patient with chronic iron deficiency anemia. The main cause of dysphagia is the web of the cervical esophagus, and an abnormal motility of the pharynx or the esophagus is found to play a significant role in the above cause. Patients with this syndrome are thought to be precancerous because squamous cell carcinomas of the hypopharynx, oral cavity, or esophagus take place in 10% of those patients. However, for Plummer-Vinson syndrome to be combined with gastric cancer is most unusual. We report the case of a 43-year-old woman who was first found to have stomach cancer under a diagnosis of Plummer-Vinson syndrome and who recovered after surgery.