A 73-year-old woman in Spain went to the hospital with an unusual lump in her belly button. The doctors who examined her found something more serious than a navel cyst: a tumor protruding from the center of her stomach. It was cancer that had spread, or metastasized, from a primary ovarian cancer to her abdomen and pelvic area. This type of belly button tumor is known as a Sister Mary Joseph’s nodule, and it’s relatively rare. A report of the case appeared online yesterday (March 13) in The New England Journal of Medicine.
Stomach cancer often causes no symptoms in its early stages, when it’s still confined to the stomach’s lining. If the cancer reaches later stages, it might cause symptoms such as pain in the upper part of the belly (navel area) or pain behind the breastbone (sternum). Some people also have nausea and vomiting that may contain blood. Others may notice black, tar-like stools or have a loss of appetite. If the cancer reaches the liver, it can cause jaundice, which causes yellowing of the skin and eyes.
Abdominal masses can be caused by infection, a cyst or a cancer. They can be hard, soft, stable or moveable. A lump in the belly button is usually a sign of cancer, but it could also be a hernia or another benign condition.
The woman in this case had a “Sister Mary Joseph’s nodule” that originated in a structure called the urachus, which exists during fetal development and drains the fetus’ urinary bladder to the umbilicus. This canal breaks down and disappears in most adults, but some people have tissue remnants of it in their abdomen or pelvic area. In the 73-year-old woman’s case, the urachus nodule was due to an advanced stage of ovarian cancer that had spread to her stomach.
A lump in the belly button can also be a sign of a cyst, which is usually filled with fluid and not solid. A cyst can be a sign of ovarian or other gynecologic cancer, but it can also be caused by benign conditions such as polyps or endometriosis. It can also be caused by a hernia or other abdominal injuries or diseases.
A mass in the belly button is also a sign of fluid accumulation, which is sometimes called ascites. This fluid can be drained using a tube, called a catheter. A patient or a family member can insert the tube into the fluid and drain it into a bottle as instructed by their health care team. Cancer treatment often relieves ascites by stopping the cancer cells from producing as much fluid. In addition, a type of medication called cisplatin can reduce ascites by slowing the flow of fluid from the body. It’s also used to treat some gastrointestinal cancers and leukemia, according to the American College of Surgeons.
