The challenge of metastatic ovarian carcinoma

Abstract

1.1. In the course of reporting the clinical and morphologic data of 33 malignant tumors metastatic to the ovary and 6 additional unproved ones, the subject of secondary ovarian cancer is reviewed.2.2. It is averred that carcinoma metastatic to the ovary occurs with sufficient frequency to warrant more consideration by gynecologists in their preoperative differential diagnosis of a solid ovarian tumor.3.3. It is asserted that, on occasion, it is impossible for the pathologist to be certain that an undifferentiated malignant tumor of the ovary is of primary or secondary origin.4.4. It is reaffirmed that the eponymic term for secondary ovarian cancer, Krukenberg tumor, is not uniformly used by either clinicians or pathologists. Inasmuch as the variable criteria applied to define it merely heighten confusion, it is suggested that the eponym has outlived its purpose and that it should be dropped from usage.