Cecal ameboma and a liver abscess mimicking metastatic colonic cancer. An autochthonous infectious disease in Spain?

We present the case of 52 years-old male without any recent travel. He was admitted to our department for a history of fever and abdominal pain. A CT scan showed a cecal thickening and liver mass with suspected cecal carcinoma with infected necrotic liver metastasis. Although the colonoscopy revealed a bulky submucosal wall thickening with a fibrined ulcer with yellow granulating located in the cecum, the percutaneous drainage revealed a positive PCR for Entamoeba histolytica, with improvement with metronidazole treatment. Ameboma are ulcerative, exophytic, inflammatory masses up to 15 cm in diameter in patients with long standing colonic amoebic infections containing granulation tissue with pseudotumor appearance. It affects less than 1.5% of colonic invasive amebiasis. Moreover, concomitant hepatic amoebic can be observed up to 30%, mimicking colonic cancer with necrotic liver metastasis. Although no epidemiological risk factor for amoebic infection was detected. We therefore highlight the awareness of amoebic infection and different manifestation even in non-endemic areas.