What turned this patient's stool silver?
An elderly patient presented to ED with a two-week history of dizziness and 'unusually coloured stool'
It’s not unusual for stool to come out in a range of colours other than brown.
Yellow could indicate coeliac disease, whereas red is suggestive of cancer or colitis.
But doctors in the US received a shock when they treated a woman whose faeces were a shade missing from the standard stool colour chart — a metallic silver.
The 69-year-old patient with metastatic colon cancer was admitted to ED with a two-week history of dizziness and “unusually coloured stool”.
The patient’s clinicians said the physical examination was notable for jaundice, hepatomegaly and a diffusely tender abdomen.
A rectal examination showed silver-coloured stool (panel A).
Read more: Australia tops seven countries for colorectal cancer survival
