Preoperative clinical and radiological features of metastatic ovarian tumors

To investigate the clinical characteristics and pre-operative imaging features of non-genital metastatic ovarian tumors.

A retrospective case series study that compared 18 patients with histologically confirmed non-genital metastatic ovarian tumors (the study group) with 25 patients who were diagnosed with a primary ovarian cancer (control group).

The most common primary disease was breast cancer (n = 10; 55 %), followed by colon cancer, gastric cancer, lymphoma, and unknown primary malignancy. The diagnosis of the previous primary neoplasm preceded the ovarian tumor diagnosis by 1-20 years (mean 7 years). No differences were found in the presenting signs and symptoms between the two groups. Statistically significant differences were noted between the two groups in the composition of the adnexal mass on sonography (p < 0.0005) and the CA-125 levels (p = 0.007). The presence of a complex adnexal mass with papillary projections and CA-125 >170 U/ml predicted primary ovarian cancer in 95.7 % of patients. Pre-operative CT scan revealed a greater tendency toward omental involvement and ascites in the control group (p = 0.058). The median risk of malignancy index (RMI) 2 score was significantly higher in the control group compared to the study group (8,000 and 1,120 respectively, p = 0.001). Using a RMI 2 cut-off level of 3,800 for diagnosing primary ovarian cancer versus metastatic ovarian cancer, the sensitivity was 70 %, with a positive predictive value of 87.5 %.

Pre-operative sonography findings, CA-125 levels and RMI 2 scores can be highly accurate in differentiating between primary and metastatic ovarian tumors.