Secondary tumors of the intestines in females: a retrospective clinicopathologic study of seven cases.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the primary site and the pathological features of secondary intestinal tumors in females, with emphasis on their differential diagnosis from primary neoplasms of the intestines.

METHODS

Seven cases of secondary intestinal tumors in females were retrieved from the archival files of our laboratory. The relative clinical data were also reviewed. Inmmunohistochemistry was performed in cases with diagnostic difficulties.

RESULTS

The primary site of the tumor was defined as follows: the ovary (ovarian adenocarcinoma) in five cases (71.4%), the skin (cutaneous malignant melanoma) in one case (14.28%) and the uterine corpus (mixed mullerian tumor) in one case (14.28%). In two cases the primary site was not determined initially, but the investigation showed that the primary tumor was ovarian in origin. In five cases the existence of a primary tumor was already known. Immunohistochemistry was applied in three cases for confirmation of the suspected primary tumor by histological examination.

CONCLUSION

Histological diagnosis of secondary intestinal tumors may be extremely difficult, especially when the primary site is not previously known, and because of the tendency of certain secondary tumors to mimic, both grossly and microscopically, the primary ones. Immunohistochemistry is extremely helpful in resolving these diagnostic difficulties.