Clinicopathological Determinants of Recurrence Risk and Survival in Mucinous Ovarian Carcinoma

Mucinous ovarian carcinoma (MOC) is a unique form of ovarian cancer. MOC typically presents at early stage but demonstrates intrinsic chemoresistance; treatment of advanced-stage and relapsed disease is therefore challenging. We harness a large retrospective MOC cohort to identify factors associated with recurrence risk and survival. A total of 151 MOC patients were included. The 5 year disease-specific survival (DSS) was 84.5%. Risk of subsequent recurrence after a disease-free period of 2 and 5 years was low (8.3% and 5.6% over the next 10 years). The majority of cases were FIGO stage I (35.6% IA, 43.0% IC). Multivariable analysis identified stage and pathological grade as independently associated with DSS (p < 0.001 and p < 0.001). Grade 1 stage I patients represented the majority of cases (53.0%) and demonstrated exceptional survival (10 year DSS 95.3%); survival was comparable between grade I stage IA and stage IC patients, and between grade I stage IC patients who did and did not receive adjuvant chemotherapy. At 5 years following diagnosis, the proportion of grade 1, 2 and 3 patients remaining disease free was 89.5%, 74.9% and 41.7%; the corresponding proportions for FIGO stage I, II and III/IV patients were 91.1%, 76.7% and 19.8%. Median post-relapse survival was 5.0 months. Most MOC patients present with low-grade early-stage disease and are at low risk of recurrence. New treatment options are urgently needed to improve survival following relapse, which is associated with extremely poor prognosis.

An Ominous Sign: Mucinous Ovarian Carcinoma with Sister Mary Joseph Nodule

Despite two centuries of progress in its surgical and oncological management, ovarian cancer remains the most lethal of the gynaecological cancers, claiming the lives of nearly 185,000 women globally each year. Historically considered a single disease, there is growing recognition that ovarian cancer is in fact a spectrum of malignancies with distinct cellular origins, molecular driver pathways and clinicopathological features. Mucinous ovarian carcinoma (mOC) is a rare histological subtype that presents a particular challenge in accurate diagnosis and management. Frequently confused with metastatic deposits from extra-ovarian mucinous tumours, the true incidence of primary mOC is estimated to be between 3-5%. Typically affecting younger women, prognosis for late-stage disease is abysmal with a median survival of <15 months. This case report describes a 38-year-old patient who presented with rapidly worsening abdominal distension. Subsequent debulking surgery removed a mass weighing 2.4kg, confirmed by histopathology as a high grade mucinous ovarian carcinoma with a mural nodule of anaplastic carcinoma. Evidence behind the current guidelines for management will be discussed, addressing our recent understanding of mOC as a separate disease from other histotypes and the consequent challenges in interpreting data from large multicentre trials in which patients with mOC are poorly represented. Moreover, using the Sister Mary Joseph nodule (SMJN) as an example, this case also highlights the importance of the physical examination and the value of subtle (and sometimes missed) clinical signs that provide important clues about the extent of a patient’s underlying disease and prognosis.

A 61-year-old woman with jejunal lymphatic malformation visualized on computed tomography: a case report

Background Jejunal lymphatic malformations are congenital lesions that are seldom diagnosed in adults and rarely seen on imaging. Case presentation A 61-year-old Caucasian woman was initially diagnosed and treated for mucinous ovarian carcinoma. After an exploratory laparotomy with left salpingo-oophorectomy, a computed tomography scan of the abdomen and pelvis demonstrated suspicious fluid-containing lesions involving a segment of jejunum and adjacent mesentery. Resection of the lesion during subsequent debulking surgery revealed that the lesion seen on imaging was a jejunal lymphatic malformation and not a cancerous implant. Conclusions Abdominal lymphatic malformations are difficult to diagnose solely on imaging but should remain on the differential in adult cancer patients with persistent cystic abdominal lesions despite chemotherapy and must be differentiated from metastatic implants.