Snapshot quiz (April 2021 [1])

Published: 05/07/2021

Authors: D. Chakrabarti, S. Qayoom, N. Akhtar, S. Rajan, V. Kumar and S. Parveen

Sister Mary Joseph’s nodule. These occur in patients with an underlying malignancy, often of gastrointestinal (stomach, pancreas, gallbladder, colon) or gynaecological (ovarian, uterine) origin. The term was coined by the British surgeon Sir Hamilton Bailey in recognition of Sister Julia Dempsey, who first recorded a cutaneous, umbilical nodule in a patient subsequently found to have an abdominal malignancy. It is an ominous clinical sign that suggests extensive intra-abdominal disease.