Struma ovarii is an extremely rare type of ovarian teratoma distinguished by the unusual presence of thyroid tissue. It is usually a benign condition; however, malignant transformation is sometimes detected. The diagnosis relies on histopathological examination and is infrequently made on routine investigations. We report two cases of struma ovarii: one benign and the other malignant. The first case involved a 27-year-old woman who underwent a right ovarian cystectomy for an incidental ultrasonographic finding of a solid right adnexal mass. The diagnosis of a benign struma was made after histopathological study. The second case involved a 68-year-old woman who underwent a right salpingo-oophorectomy for a right ovarian bulky mass and the histopathological diagnosis was consistent with that of a malignant struma. We examine the challenges involved in the diagnosis and management of this rare entity.
Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the colon is a rare malignant tumor occurring as either a primary or secondary lesion. Few cases of metastatic or secondary colonic SCC have been published. We report an unusual case of a 59-year-old female patient who was treated by Wertheim hysterectomy and adjuvant chemoradiation for stage IIB SCC of the uterine cervix. Two years later, she developed a metastatic location in the caecum causing an acute intestinal obstruction. She underwent an emergency open right hemicolectomy with ileocolic anastomosis and resection of two nodules of the umbilicus and the right parietal peritoneum. Histopathological examination confirmed a triple metastatic location of SCC. She is disease-free 11 months after surgery. We discuss the clinicopathological features, management strategies, and the prognosis of this rare entity.
Parathyroid carcinoma is a very rare malignant tumor of the parathyroid gland. This cancer poses a great diagnostic and therapeutic difficulty due to its rarity and the absence of a characteristic clinical and paraclinical picture. The diagnosis is histological but is not always easy. Surgery remains the only curative treatment, and cervical radiotherapy can be discussed. Good prognostic factors are complete monobloc tumor resection, and bad prognostic factors are the presence of lymph node metastases at diagnosis, distant metastases, and nonsecreting carcinomas.
Ganglioneuroma is a nerve tumor arising from the sympathetic neural crest. It is a rare benign tumor. Retroperitoneum is its second location after the posterior mediastinum. Usually asymptomatic, it is discovered incidentally on imaging. Surgical resection is the sole treatment. The prognosis is good if the diagnosis is made early with quality R0 surgical excision. We report a case in a 14-year-old female admitted to the emergency department for obstructive pyelonephritis. Imaging features found a retroperitoneal mass with characteristics suggestive of a retroperitoneal ganglioneuroma, which was confirmed by histological study. Ganglioneuroma should be a part of differential diagnoses for any retroperitoneal mass in children and young adults.
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