Differential Diagnosis of Small Cell Carcinoma of the Ovary or Ovarian Metastases of Small Cell Carcinoma of the Lung: A Case Report and Review of the Literature

Abstract

Small cell tumors arise from the neuroendocrine cell system and they are most frequently found in the lung (SCLC). Small cell tumor could occasionally arise in other body sites, such as the cervix, prostate, gastrointestinal tract, and very rarely from other sites. Metastatic SCLC patients present with metastatic disease in 80% of cases, and the metastases typically are reported in brain, liver, lung, and bone; they rarely could be found in the ovary. Differently, primitive small cell carcinoma of the ovary of pulmonary type is a rare and highly aggressive tumor arising from the ovarian cells; no suitable treatment strategy has been established yet. In this paper, we talk about a 72-year-old woman who presented with abdominal bleeding and a large mass in her pelvic region. A primary ovarian carcinoma was suspected, and she underwent hysterectomy with laparoscopic surgery and bilateral oophorectomy, lymph node resection, omentectomy, complementary appendix and sigmoid resection. The postoperative pathologic diagnosis was a differential diagnosis between small cell ovarian carcinoma of the pulmonary type and metastasis of SCLC.

Ovarian metastases from ALK-positive lung adenocarcinoma: a case report and review of the literature

“…Previously reports of lung cancer with ovarian metastases reported various pathological types, including adenocarcinoma, small cell carcinoma, large cell carcinoma, and squamous cell carcinoma, however, the youngest case was aged 25 years ( 19 ), a bit older than the patient in this report. Furthermore, more than a half of the previously reported cases were firstly found to have lung tumors but not ovarian tumors; one-third of the cases were simultaneously found to have both tumors; and the remaining cases were firstly found to have ovarian tumors and then diagnosed as primary lung cancer ( 11 , 20 ), which is similar to our case. At present, the case reported here is the youngest ALK -positive lung cancer patient with ovarian metastasis, and the case had no cough, hemoptysis, and other related symptoms caused by lung cancer.…”

Case report: Strategies for improving outcomes in patients with primary ovarian small-cell neuroendocrine carcinoma

“…Clinically, SCCOPT must be distinguished from metastasis of lung and thymic small cell carcinoma to the ovary (8). The two are morphologically indistinguishable, with similar staining results of immune marker.…”

A case of ruptured ovarian metastasis of small cell lung cancer

“…The presence of ovarian primary SCLC requires careful differentiation from metastatic ovarian tumors. Although they present with similar histological and immunohistochemical findings [ 16 ], TTF-1, CK 7, and CK 20 staining are useful for distinguishing primary and metastatic ovarian cancer from small cell cancer [ [17] , [18] , [19] ].…”