- Debate
- Open Access
A massive ovarian mucinous cystadenoma: a case report
- Remah M Kamel1Email author
https://doi.org/10.1186/1477-7827-8-24
© Kamel; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2010
- Received: 18 December 2009
- Accepted: 11 March 2010
- Published: 11 March 2010
Abstract
Objectives
To report the occurrence of a rare case of a huge benign ovarian tumour (mucinous cystadenoma) in Jazan city, Saudi Arabia.
Patients
Our reported case was a middle-aged Saudi woman presented with marked abdominal distension and discomfort at the gynaecology clinic of Jazan General Hospital, Jazan city, Saudi Arabia.
Methods
The data were collected by history-taking, clinical examination, laboratory investigations, transabdominal ultrasonographic examination, and by histo-pathological study of the excised surgical specimen.
Results
The case was reported as a rare massive ovarian mucinous cystadenoma.
Conclusions
This case report emphasizes the significance of thorough evaluation of all women presented with vague abdominal pains. Although the condition is extremely rare, it is a potentially dangerous in its massive form if not timely diagnosed and managed properly. With the increasing awareness of such conditions, more and more cases could be detected and reported early.
Keywords
- Ovarian Cyst
- Mucinous Tumour
- Mucinous Cystadenoma
- Benign Ovarian Tumour
- Endometriotic Cyst
Introduction
Ovarian mucinous cystadenoma is a benign tumour that arises from the surface epithelium of the ovary. It is a multilocular cyst with smooth outer and inner surfaces. It tends to be huge in size. Of all ovarian tumours, mucinous tumours comprise 15% [1, 2]. About 80% of mucinous tumours are benign, 10% are border-line and 10% are malignant. Although benign ovarian mucinous tumours are rare at the extremities of age, before puberty and after menopause [3], they are common between the third and the fifth decades [4]. The most frequent complications of benign ovarian cysts, in general, are torsion, haemorrhage and rupture. As it contains mucinous fluid, its rupture leads to mucinous deposits on the peritoneum (pseudo-myxoma peritonei). This report presents a case of a giant ovarian mucinous cystadenoma in a Saudi woman, one of the biggest reported ovarian tumours in the medical literature.
Case report
A 29-year-old divorced Saudi woman presented with her parents at the gynaecology outpatients' clinic of Jazan General Hospital, Saudi Arabia, with a massive abdominal distension and discomfort. The patient has no living children from her previous marriage that lasted for 3 years. She was divorced one year back. Although the patient and her parents noticed gradual abdominal enlargement since 10 months back, they did not ask for a medical advice as they thought it was a pregnancy. As more than 9 months passed out without commencement of parturition, they consulted their general practitioner (GP) at the primary healthcare unit in their village. The GP suspected a huge abdominal tumour and referred the patient to Jazan General Hospital.
The patient had no previous medical diseases or surgical operations. Her menarche commenced at the age of 13 years with subsequent irregular cycles. She denied the use of any medications.
A giant pelvi-abdominal mass noticed on abdominal examination.
Plain chest X-ray shows no pleural effusion or metastasis. Upward displacement of the diaphragm affecting air entry into the lower lobes of lungs (explains patient's tachypnea).
Gross picture of the intact ovarian tumour shows smooth outer surface without external growths (42 × 28 × 25 cm in diameters and 7,250 kg in weight).
Microscopic picture of the ovarian tumour shows the lining non-ciliated, mucin-secreting , columnar epithelium with goblet cells (Mucinous cystadenoma).
Discussion
Giant ovarian tumours have become rare in current medical practice, as most cases are discovered early during routine check-ups. Detection of ovarian cysts causes considerable worry for women because of fear of malignancy, but fortunately the majority of ovarian cysts are benign.
Mucinous cystadenoma is a benign ovarian tumour. It is reported to occur in middle-aged women. It is rare among adolescents [5] or in association with pregnancy [6]. On gross appearance, mucinous tumours are characterised by cysts of variable sizes without surface invasion. Only 10% of primary mucinous cystadenoma is bilateral [7]. In our case, the tumour was unilateral, affecting the left ovary. The cyst was filled with sticky gelatinous fluid rich in glycoprotein. In a previous reported case [6], the tumour weight was 6 kg. In our case, the tumour weighed 7,250 kg.
Histologically, mucinous cystadenoma is lined by tall columnar non-ciliated epithelial cells with apical mucin and basal nuclei. They are classified according to the mucin-producing epithelial cells into three types [4]. The first two, which are always indistinguishable, include endocervical and intestinal epithelia. The third type is the müllerian, which is typically associated with endometriotic cysts [8]. Our case has epithelium of intestinal-like type as many goblet cells were noticed.
Management of ovarian cysts depends on the patient's age, the size of the cyst and its histo-pathological nature. Conservative surgery as ovarian cystectomy and salpingo-oophorectomy is adequate for benign lesions [7]. In our patient, left salpingo-oophorectomy was performed as there was no ovarian tissue left and the tube was unhealthy. After surgery, the patient should be followed-up carefully as some tumours recur [5]. Although the tumour was removed completely and intact with the affected ovary, our patient was given appointments to be reviewed every 3 months for a year.
Consent
A written informed consent was obtained from her for publication of this case report and its accompanying images. A copy of the written consent is available for review by the Editor-in-Chief of this journal.
Declarations
Acknowledgements
I would like to express my appreciation to the medical and paramedical staff at Jazan General Hospital, Saudi Arabia. My thankfulness is due to my patient. This work was self-funded. I did not receive any financial funding or support from any person or institution.
Authors’ Affiliations
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Copyright
This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.