Extragenital cystic lesions of peritoneum, mesentery and retroperitoneum of the female. Clinicopathological characteristics of 19 cases.

The clinicopathological characteristics are presented of 19 extragenital cystic lesions of female patients located at the retroperitoneum (9 cases), the mesentery (6 cases) and the peritoneum (4 cases). Median age was 42.3 years and the main symptom was abdominal pain. The cysts measured 4-27 cm in diameter and were classified as: epithelial (7/19), mesothelial (5/19), vascular (2/19), parasitic (1/19) and developmental in origin (4/19). Of the cases 18/19 were benign lesions and one case was a borderline mucinous cystic tumor. Immunohistochemistry by a streptavidin-biotin method was performed to investigate CEA transcripts (MoAb, Novosan), CA125 (MoAb, CIS Diagnostics), vimentin (MoAb Ve6, Novocastra), secretory component (a polyclonal antibody, DAKO), Factor VIII (MoAb, DAKO), CD34 (MoAb, Scytec), calretinin (a polyclonal antibody, Zymed, San Francisco, CA). Cytokeratins were of low and high molecular weight (Immunon, AE1-MoAb). The results are helpful in the correct classification of various tumors. The treatment of choice is complete surgical resection of the tumors.