Primary carcinoid tumor of the ovary: a case report

Primary ovarian carcinoid tumors are rare. A 47-year-old woman presented to our emergency room with lower abdominal pain. Physical examination, pelvic ultrasonographic evaluation and abdominal computed tomography revealed a 10-cm mass in the right ovary containing cystic and solid components, as well as calcifications typical of a dermoid cyst. At laparotomy, a smooth-surfaced, firm and mobile right adnexal mass with solid and cystic portions was detected. Initially, right salpingo-oophorectomy was performed. Frozen-section examination identified the mass as a sex cord stromal tumor containing a mature cystic teratoma. Based on this finding, total abdominal hysterectomy, left salpingo-oophorectomy, omentectomy, appendectomy were performed, and the pelvic-paraaortic lymph nodes were also removed. All histological findings in the right ovary were similar to the features of cystic teratoma and trabecular carcinoid tumor. Examination of the resected lymphatic, omental, and appendiceal tissue indicated no tumoral invasion. The diagnosis was ovarian carcinoid Stage IA. Serum testing post-surgery revealed that the levels of cancer antigen (CA) 19-9 and CA125 were 18.5 u/ml and 10.5 u/ml, respectively. The patient was discharged on postoperative day 5. The report describes the clinicopathologic and immunohistochemical features of a primary ovarian carcinoid that contained a mature cystic teratoma.