Over 1.5 years since the surgery, the patient has been carefully followed with periodic PET-CT scans, and has not received any further intervention-chemotherapy or radiation. Discussion TGC are rare congenital cysts that occur in the retrorectal space and are thought to arise from postanal primitive gut remnants (1). The retrorectal or presacral space is bounded anteriorly by the rectum, posteriorly by the sacrum, superiorly

by the peritoneal reflection, inferiorly the levators ani and coccygeus muscles, and laterally by the ureters and iliac vessels (2). TGC have Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical also been referred to as retrorectal cyst hamartoma (3), cyst of postanal intestine, tail gut vestiges, and rectal cyst (4). TGC should be distinguished from other lesions which may occur in the retrorectal space including teratomas, epidermal cysts, rectal duplication cysts, anal gland cysts, and anal gland carcinomas (4). Although TGC may clinically present in all age groups from neonates to adults, the anomaly is more Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical commonly found in middle-aged females. Most patients with TGC probably remain asymptomatic, and the cyst is discovered incidentally. When symptomatic, the presentation is usually non-specific and is most frequently Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical related to compressive effects of a growing pelvic mass (e.g., rectal fullness, urinary frequency, rectal bleeding, pain on defecation, constipation,

lower abdominal and back pain and symptoms associated with genitourinary obstruction). Infection, chronic abscesses and fistulas with the rectum or with perianal skin can also develop. Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical The patient may present

with a history of multiple drainage procedures for recurrent pilonidal abscess, perianal abscess or fistula-in-ano. Majority of TGCs are benign. However, malignant transformation of the epithelial component of a TGC has been reported on rare occasions. Malignancies that have been reported within TGC include adenocarcinomas, carcinoid tumors, neuroendocrine carcinomas, endometrioid carcinoma, adenosquamous carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma and sarcoma (5,6). However, Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical the majority is adenocarcinomas and carcinoid tumors. An extensive search of the literature revealed only 17 cases of selleck catalog adenocarcinoma arising in a TGC (1,3,6,7). All TGC should be assessed for malignancy (5). Despite advances in a variety of diagnostic methods such as CT and MRI, a precise diagnosis can only be made by histopathologic examination after surgical removal (8). Although malignancy AV-951 arising in a TGC has been reported with a needle biopsy, it is generally not advised as there is a potential for false-negative results and also, the biopsy carries the risk of spillage into the pelvic cavity and seeding of the biopsy tract. If the index of suspicion for malignancy is low and the patient is asymptomatic, routine surveillance may be appropriate. A transrectal or presacral needle biopsy may only be considered for patients who are at high surgical risk.