Lymphomas or leukemia presenting as ovarian tumors. An analysis of 42 cases.

Forty cases of ovarian lymphoma and two of extramedullary leukemia were examined with emphasis on histologic types correlated with age, modes of presentation, operative findings, including frequency of bilaterality and omental spread, clinical course following therapy, and problems in differential diagnosis. Although most cases were referred with diagnoses other than lymphoma (granulosa cell tumor or dysgerminoma, occasionally anaplastic tumor, Krukenberg tumor, or metastatic breast carcinoma), utilization of sections cut at 4 mu and stained with hematoxylin and eosin, or sections stained by the methyl green pyronine (MGP), naphthol-ASD esterase (NASD) or periodic acid-Schiff (PAS) methods helped bring out the lymphoid or hematopoietic nature of the cells. Sixteen patients were under 20 years of age. They had small noncleaved cell lymphoma (undifferentiated Burkitt's and non-Burkitt's, 10 cases), diffuse immunoblastic large cell lymphoma (4 cases), or acute granulocytic leukemia (2 cases). Twenty-six patients were 29 to 74 years of age and had diffuse large cell lymphoma (10 cases), diffuse immunoblastic large cell lymphoma (9 cases), follicular (nodular) lymphoma (6 cases) or small noncleaved cell lymphoma (1 case). Pain with an abdominal or pelvic mass was the most common presentation. Nine tumors were discovered during investigation of other gynecologic complaints. At laparotomy, the tumors in 55% of cases involved both ovaries, and in 64% also involved extragonadal sites (usually omentum, fallopian tubes, or lymph nodes). Seventeen patients had tumor affecting one ovary, seven of these without any evidence of extragonadal spread. Forty-two percent (15) of 37 patients with follow-up were alive after 2 years. Only nine patients survived more than 5 years; two subsequently died of lymphoma. Favorable prognostic features included: (1) FIGO stage IA; (2) unilateral ovarian involvement; (3) focal involvement of one ovary; and (4) follicular (nodular) lymphoma.

Duke Scholars

Author Stanley J. Robboy Pathology