Internal jugular vein thrombosis presenting as paraneoplastic syndrome in benign cystic teratoma of ovary: a case report

Abstract

Internal jugular vein thrombosis is a rare vascular disease that can be overlooked or misdiagnosed and is generally seen in persons with intravenous drug abuse or in patients with prolonged central venous catheterization due to iatrogenic trauma. The most common germ cell tumour of the ovary is benign (mature) cystic teratoma, occurring in adolescents and young women. We are presenting a case of a 50-year-old premenopausal woman, diagnosed to have right internal jugular vein thrombosis extending into the right subclavian and axillary vein. Her laboratory investigations revealed no predisposing cause of thrombosis. Four months later she was evaluated for menorrhagia and imaging studies showed multiple uterine fibroids with left ovarian mass (ovarian teratoma) with moderate ascites and her tumour markers levels of CA125 was elevated. She underwent staging laparotomy, total abdominal hysterectomy with bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy and pelvic lymph node dissection with infracolic omentectomy. Pathologically, ovarian cyst showed mature thyroid tissue with islands of bone, muscle tissue and fatty tissue consistent with benign cystic teratoma. Postoperatively her tumour marker CA125 level returned to normal levels and there was no reaccumulation of fluid. As there were no predisposing factors for internal jugular vein thrombosis, it was concluded to be a paraneoplastic syndrome preceding the diagnosis of benign cystic teratoma. To the best of our knowledge this is the first case report in the literature with an association between internal jugular vein thrombosis and benign cystic teratoma with raised serum tumour marker CA 125.