Krukenberg tumor in pregnancy. The lethal outcome

Krukenberg tumor refers to gastrointestinal cancer metastatic to the ovaries and its prognosis is uniformly poor. This case report concerns a 38-year-old pregnant woman suffering from abdominal pain and iterative vomiting episodes. She presented with a large abdominopelvic tumor. Because of suspected ovarian torsion, we performed urgent surgery. At laparotomy, bilateral ovarian tumors, ascites and gastric cancer located at the cardia and the lesser curvature invading the serosa were identified. We performed right ovariectomy, resection of the left ovary, and gastric biopsy. Histological examination of the specimen yielded diagnosis of Krukenberg tumor. Ten days later the patient underwent an elective Cesarean section in the 25th gestational week because of fetal asphyxia and very poor maternal life prognosis. We performed Cesarean delivery and extracted a vital female newborn of 31 cm, 600 g, Ap score 3, with virilization. Few days later the baby died at the intensive care unit. Two weeks later the mother died because of pulmonary failure.