Mucinous cystadenocarcinoma of the retroperitoneum: a light and electron microscopic study.

A large, ovarian-type, retroperitoneal cystic tumor existing in the presence of normal ovaries was studied morphologically by light and electron microscopy. The cyst was monolocular, having several papillary nodules which measured 0.2-2.0 cm in diameter, and protruded into the lumen. Histologically, most of the tumor wall was covered by mesothelium-like cells which showed signs of differentiation into either a benign endocervical type mucinous epithelium or a mucinous epithelium of borderline malignancy, particularly around the nodules. The papillary nodules themselves had the histological features of a well-differentiated mucinous adenocarcinoma. These light and electron microscopic features resembled those of ovarian mucinous tumors. Histogenetically, the tumor appeared to be derived from a mesothelial inclusion cyst; some of the mesothelium being transformed by metaplastic change into the endocervical type mucinous epithelium and undergoing further transformation into either the mucinous epithelium of borderline malignancy or the well-differentiated mucinous adenocarcinoma by some unknown factors.