Decision making in borderline ovarian tumors. Report of a rare case of mesosigma psammocarcinoma

Abstract

Psammocarcinoma is a rare variant of serous carcinoma arising either from ovary or peritoneum, characterized by massive psammoma body formation, low-grade of cytologic differentiation and invasiveness. Its clinical behavior is similar to the serous borderline tumors, whose prognosis is significantly better compared to invasive forms, with a 5-year survival in stage I greater than 95%. A typical feature of borderline ovary tumors is the presence, in more than 30% of cases, of borderline peritoneal implants similar to primary ovarian cancer or of invasive forms.

We report a case of a 44-years-old woman who referred to our clinic for mesosigmoid mass, accidentally discovered by ultrasonography. Sigmoidectomy with fertility sparing surgery was performed in september 2010. The mass was hystologically characterized by many psammoma bodies and low grade cytological features with diagnosis of psammocarcinoma of mesosigma. One year after the primary surgery, the patient showed with left adnexial mass; optimal debulking surgery was performed including omentectomy, total abdominal hysterectomy, bilateral adnexectomy and appendicectomy. The patient did not receive any adjuvant chemotherapy and to date she is alive and with no evidence of disease.

The conclusion is that psammocarcinoma is a very rare tumor that behaves less aggressively than typical serous carcinoma, the mainstay of treatment is surgical debulking, with fertility sparing surgery as possible option in young patients with ovaries macroscopically free of disease.